Well, the first round of the NBA Playoffs has come to a close and there have been some surprises, like the Lakers and Bulls struggling with their competition and the Spurs
WESTERN CONFERENCE
4.) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 8.) Memphis Grizzlies: The Thunder dispatched the Nuggets in a five game stretch where Kevin Durant proved himself to be the greatest scorer in the history of the world, and Russell Westbrook tried to be the Stringer Bell to Durant's Avon Barksdale and usurp his power. The Griz upset the top seed Spurs in six games by destroying them down low with the Randolph/Gasol combo. This should be a fun, competitive series. The Grizzlies beat the Thunder three out of four times this season, but their frontcourt advantage won't be as pronounced since OKC now has Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka playing significant time down low and they can put a body on Memphis' bigs. Durant might struggle a bit with Shane Battier on him, but I don't think that Mike Conley can handle Westbrook. Memphis has a good chance to win the series, but I think OKC is the Western Conference Team of Destiny. I'm going to go with Thunder in seven.
2.) Los Angeles Lakers vs. 3.) Dallas Mavericks: The Lakers got here by surprisingly struggling to beat the Hornets in six games and the Mavs advanced by surprisingly (to me) beating the TrailBlazers in six games. This could be an interesting series, as Dallas is capable of beating L.A., even though I'm near certain that they will not. If the Lakers are going to play like big boys again, they should be able to beat Dallas convincingly. There's no Chris Paul here to give the Lakers fits, and Dirk Nowitzki can be stifled by the Bynum/Odom/Gasol/Artest/Barnes frontcourt. After Dirk, no one else on the Mavericks can really score, while the Lakers have four guys who can put up 20 points each. I think Dallas wins a couple to make it interesting, but ultimately it will be Lakers in six.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1.) Chicago Bulls vs. 5.) Atlanta Hawks: The Bulls got here by beating the Pacers in a tough five game series (the only series I predicted exactly right in terms of winner and amount of games), while the Hawks managed to finally topple Orlando in six games. As a Bulls fan, the Hawks scare me because they can randomly be really good and then be terrible the next night. Their offense and defense is erratic, while the Bulls have an erratic offense and consistently stingy defense. I expect Hinrich to get a lot of burn for Atlanta, as he usually defends Rose well. I expect Boozer to play considerably better, as he won't be outsized physically by larger defenders as he was against Indiana. Like the last round, I expect these games to be close more often than not, but Chicago is more consistent and has the better depth and talent. Bulls in seven.
2.) Miami Heat vs. 3.) Boston Celtics: The series everyone has been waiting for, albeit a round earlier than everyone expected. The Heat got to the second round by dispatching the 76ers in a tough five game series, while the Celtics swept the Knicks and finished strongly with two blowout wins to seal that matchup. The Celtics won three of four against the Heat during the regular season, but Miami won the most recent game in dominating fashion. This series could really go either way, but I think that if Shaq is healthy then the Celtics should have a huge advantage in depth. They can trot out the O'Neals, Big Baby, Garnett, and Kristic and the Heat really only have Bosh, Dampier, Joel Anthony, and Juwan Howard. Not impressive. If Rondo's play against the Knicks wasn't an aberration and he is back to his early season form, the Bibby/Chalmers combo won't get it done and as it has been all season, Miami will need Wade and LBJ to carry them. The other interesting thing is that Wade and LBJ have yet to really jell together as teammates and now they have to try to do it against a stingy Boston defense. I think that this is Boston's series to lose, despite not having homecourt advantage and being the older team. If the Celtics stay healthy, they should have the overall team and psychological edge. It should be a tough, tough series and both teams can be unpredictable, but I have to go with Celtics in seven.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Joe's UFC 129 Predictions
UFC 129 goes down tonight in Ontario in front of a crowd of 55,000. UFC Welterweight Champion and Canadian Georges St. Pierre will be defending his title against Jake Shields, and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture will be fighting his final fight against former light heavyweight champ Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. I will not see the card tonight as I have prior engagements to attend, but I will be freaking out over that Couture fight all evening. Here are my predictions, aside from pain.
Ben Henderson vs. Mark Bocek: I haven’t the slightest clue who Mark Bocek is, but Ben Henderson is a former WEC lightweight champion. He lost his title to Anthony Pettis in a really great fight highlighted by Pettis nailing Henderson with the “Showtime Kick.” I’ll go with Henderson by decision.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz: Matyushenko’s nickname is The Janitor. I’m a fan. I was not aware the Janitor fought after getting fucked up by Jon Jones until I read my brother’s predictions earlier. Brilz couldn’t even beat the washed up Rogerio Nogueira almost a year ago so I’m not looking forward to his performance. He’ll most likely have some serious ring rust issues, and not being able to beat the weak Lil Nog doesn’t make me hopeful. I sense the Janitor by second round TKO.
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida: Couture is my hero. Here is a guy who is the second best of all time, surpassed only recently by Anderson Silva. Randy will turn 48 soon, so it is good he’s getting out of there since he can’t really take a punch at all anymore. Randy’s game plans have gotten him so many great victories over guys like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He knows how to cut off the octagon and trap his opponents and beat them down and bloody them up. But Lyoto Machida is the best fighter Randy has ever faced. The Dragon was undefeated up until a knockout victory to Shogun Rua last year, and then he lost a split decision to Rampage Jackson. Machida really should have won the Rampage fight, but that’s why you can’t leave it to the judges. Machida won’t leave this fight to the judges however. A few years ago Randy could’ve put up a big fight, but I’m not seeing that. Randy can’t take a punch, Machida is too fast and elusive, and Randy just doesn’t have it anymore. Machida wins by first round knockout.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick: Aldo is friends with Anderson Silva. I’ve only seen highlights of Aldo’s work and that’s enough to know he’s violent. Hominick doesn’t stand a chance. Aldo by second round TKO.
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields: This is going to be a tough fight for GSP if Shields can go longer than a round or two, which after his fight against Martin Kampann I’m not so sure he can. Shields has great jiu jitsu and wrestling, but GSP hasn’t lost a round in years. I only care about this fight since if GSP wins there’s talk of a superfight with Anderson Silva. Other than that I have no desire to see another GSP fight in which he takes a guy down for five rounds and doesn’t finish them. I do think Shields could potentially pull off an Anderson Silva style submission in the later rounds. However, if and when Shields gasses out, I think GSP gets the TKO in the third round.
Ben Henderson vs. Mark Bocek: I haven’t the slightest clue who Mark Bocek is, but Ben Henderson is a former WEC lightweight champion. He lost his title to Anthony Pettis in a really great fight highlighted by Pettis nailing Henderson with the “Showtime Kick.” I’ll go with Henderson by decision.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz: Matyushenko’s nickname is The Janitor. I’m a fan. I was not aware the Janitor fought after getting fucked up by Jon Jones until I read my brother’s predictions earlier. Brilz couldn’t even beat the washed up Rogerio Nogueira almost a year ago so I’m not looking forward to his performance. He’ll most likely have some serious ring rust issues, and not being able to beat the weak Lil Nog doesn’t make me hopeful. I sense the Janitor by second round TKO.
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida: Couture is my hero. Here is a guy who is the second best of all time, surpassed only recently by Anderson Silva. Randy will turn 48 soon, so it is good he’s getting out of there since he can’t really take a punch at all anymore. Randy’s game plans have gotten him so many great victories over guys like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He knows how to cut off the octagon and trap his opponents and beat them down and bloody them up. But Lyoto Machida is the best fighter Randy has ever faced. The Dragon was undefeated up until a knockout victory to Shogun Rua last year, and then he lost a split decision to Rampage Jackson. Machida really should have won the Rampage fight, but that’s why you can’t leave it to the judges. Machida won’t leave this fight to the judges however. A few years ago Randy could’ve put up a big fight, but I’m not seeing that. Randy can’t take a punch, Machida is too fast and elusive, and Randy just doesn’t have it anymore. Machida wins by first round knockout.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick: Aldo is friends with Anderson Silva. I’ve only seen highlights of Aldo’s work and that’s enough to know he’s violent. Hominick doesn’t stand a chance. Aldo by second round TKO.
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields: This is going to be a tough fight for GSP if Shields can go longer than a round or two, which after his fight against Martin Kampann I’m not so sure he can. Shields has great jiu jitsu and wrestling, but GSP hasn’t lost a round in years. I only care about this fight since if GSP wins there’s talk of a superfight with Anderson Silva. Other than that I have no desire to see another GSP fight in which he takes a guy down for five rounds and doesn’t finish them. I do think Shields could potentially pull off an Anderson Silva style submission in the later rounds. However, if and when Shields gasses out, I think GSP gets the TKO in the third round.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Catch you in the second round!
Last night three series reached their epic conclusion and we can now start to look forward to the second round. I’ve included some brief second round predictions at the end, but first let’s check out how we got here. The Mavericks somehow eliminated the Portland Trailblazers, the Lakers remembered the Hornets suck, and Atlanta finally got rid of the Orlando Magic despite blowing a 12 point fourth quarter lead. A season or two ago I never would’ve believed what I’m about to say, but I was very happy about that last one happening.
The Orlando Magic used to be exciting and a team you would think about as a championship winner in the future. They’ve since turned into a team with players who don’t live up to expectations and make their star player suffer. Now I’m no fan of Dwight Howard, but I give the dude props since his game had been huge all season. He was clearly the number 2 MVP candidate behind Derrick Rose. However he is a baby always acting like the league is out to get him.
I also can’t stand Stan Van Gundy anymore since he’s become a huge baby as well always bitching about how everybody’s how to get Dwight and himself. Stan Van has also become a god-awful coach. Nobody on the Magic other than Dwight Howard is able to play any kind of defense. That game when they roared back from like 20 down to beat Miami, I turned that shit off because it was horrible to watch. Orlando’s offensive strategy consisted of standing around and shooting threes, or have Dwight dunk it. I guess they got hot in the second half and came back to win, but it didn’t look like that would be the case early on.
Today Basketbawful even made fun of their offensive strategy saying it should be called “Dunk or a Three.” I didn’t know that had become their regular thing, I figured it was just something they were doing against the Heat that night. But after watching their series with Atlanta I’ve learned that is all they do. That is why they fail. Even the run ‘n gun Suns don’t just camp out and shoot threes all game. And the Magic weren’t even the top three point shooting team in the league, but that is still their strategy. What the fuck?
Van Gundy’s piss poor offensive strategy has driven me nuts for the last couple months, and the fact nobody on that team plays defense and Van Gundy doesn’t seem to make it priority and that only makes me crazier. Howard and Van Gundy have also turned into huge babies since they haven’t been able to get over the hump and win a championship, further annoying me. Howard is always getting technicals and costs his team, and Van Gundy complains about how the league just hates the Magic. All this bitching made me take great joy in watching them lose last night.
What made it even better was somebody’s sign in the Atlanta crowd that read something like, “Don’t worry Jameer, we’ll tell Derrick you said hello in the second round.” I thought that was just some fans talking shit because they were eliminating the Magic, but as it turns out there was a larger purpose. I was watching the game on NBA TV and I can’t remember if it was the NBA TV people or if it was the people in the local Atlanta feed the game was airing on, but they showed a clip of Jameer Nelson telling Derrick Rose, “Catch you in the second round” after the Bulls beat Orlando near the end of the regular season. Owned! When you talk that shit while finishing the season poorly you deserve to get eliminated in the first round.
Meanwhile the Blazers sadly lost to the Mavs, bringing the best series of the playoffs thus far to an end. I was hoping Dallas won that series initially, but after Brandon Roy suddenly came back like a force and all the Blazers played their asses off I had to change my stance. The Blazers worked real hard so I felt bad they had to go out like this. I felt even worse since I missed the Mavs come back. I was watching the game and the Blazers looked to be in control, then I fell asleep and found out this morning the Mavericks won and now move on to round two. Great now we can watch the Lakers run through them in five games.
The Lakers closed out the Hornets last night, with Ron Artest kissing the guns and everything. I fucking hate Kobe Bryant so as much as it pains me to root against a Phil Jackson coached team, I hope Dallas can suddenly become good enough to beat a real ass team in the playoffs and get Los Angeles out of there. I do hope Pau Gasol can, as Lil Jon would scream, step his game up since I’m a fan of his work. He played like mildly better Carlos Boozer in this last series it seemed, and that’s not what LA needs from him.
Meanwhile the Spurs/Grizzlies series continues tonight back in Memphis for Game 6. The Grizzlies could become just the second 8 seed to beat the 1 seed since the first round became seven games. The Spurs comeback to win in overtime in Game 5 was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life so I’m excited for this game. The winner of this series will become cannon fodder for the OKC Thunder in the next round, but I’m still excited to see if the Grizzlies can win this series or if the Spurs can complete the come back from being down 3-1.
Either way, our second round matchups are nearly all set. Out in the East we shall see:
(1) Chicago Bulls vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks
(2) Miami Heat vs. (3) Boston Celtics
Then out West it shall be:
(4)Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Winner of Spurs/Grizzlies
(2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Dallas Mavericks
For fear of jinxing Chicago I will not comment on that series. For fear of putting some kind of curse on the Heat/Celtics series, I will not comment on it other than saying that is going to be the series to watch. It has been hyped up since July of last year when LeBron said he was taking his talents to South Beach. It is going to be crazy.
Out West OKC will finish off Memphis in five or San Antonio in six. The Lakers will dispose of Dallas in five most likely. I hope that isn’t the case, but I’m sure Los Angeles will once again be in the conference finals. We will catch them in the third round.
The Orlando Magic used to be exciting and a team you would think about as a championship winner in the future. They’ve since turned into a team with players who don’t live up to expectations and make their star player suffer. Now I’m no fan of Dwight Howard, but I give the dude props since his game had been huge all season. He was clearly the number 2 MVP candidate behind Derrick Rose. However he is a baby always acting like the league is out to get him.
I also can’t stand Stan Van Gundy anymore since he’s become a huge baby as well always bitching about how everybody’s how to get Dwight and himself. Stan Van has also become a god-awful coach. Nobody on the Magic other than Dwight Howard is able to play any kind of defense. That game when they roared back from like 20 down to beat Miami, I turned that shit off because it was horrible to watch. Orlando’s offensive strategy consisted of standing around and shooting threes, or have Dwight dunk it. I guess they got hot in the second half and came back to win, but it didn’t look like that would be the case early on.
Today Basketbawful even made fun of their offensive strategy saying it should be called “Dunk or a Three.” I didn’t know that had become their regular thing, I figured it was just something they were doing against the Heat that night. But after watching their series with Atlanta I’ve learned that is all they do. That is why they fail. Even the run ‘n gun Suns don’t just camp out and shoot threes all game. And the Magic weren’t even the top three point shooting team in the league, but that is still their strategy. What the fuck?
Van Gundy’s piss poor offensive strategy has driven me nuts for the last couple months, and the fact nobody on that team plays defense and Van Gundy doesn’t seem to make it priority and that only makes me crazier. Howard and Van Gundy have also turned into huge babies since they haven’t been able to get over the hump and win a championship, further annoying me. Howard is always getting technicals and costs his team, and Van Gundy complains about how the league just hates the Magic. All this bitching made me take great joy in watching them lose last night.
What made it even better was somebody’s sign in the Atlanta crowd that read something like, “Don’t worry Jameer, we’ll tell Derrick you said hello in the second round.” I thought that was just some fans talking shit because they were eliminating the Magic, but as it turns out there was a larger purpose. I was watching the game on NBA TV and I can’t remember if it was the NBA TV people or if it was the people in the local Atlanta feed the game was airing on, but they showed a clip of Jameer Nelson telling Derrick Rose, “Catch you in the second round” after the Bulls beat Orlando near the end of the regular season. Owned! When you talk that shit while finishing the season poorly you deserve to get eliminated in the first round.
Meanwhile the Blazers sadly lost to the Mavs, bringing the best series of the playoffs thus far to an end. I was hoping Dallas won that series initially, but after Brandon Roy suddenly came back like a force and all the Blazers played their asses off I had to change my stance. The Blazers worked real hard so I felt bad they had to go out like this. I felt even worse since I missed the Mavs come back. I was watching the game and the Blazers looked to be in control, then I fell asleep and found out this morning the Mavericks won and now move on to round two. Great now we can watch the Lakers run through them in five games.
The Lakers closed out the Hornets last night, with Ron Artest kissing the guns and everything. I fucking hate Kobe Bryant so as much as it pains me to root against a Phil Jackson coached team, I hope Dallas can suddenly become good enough to beat a real ass team in the playoffs and get Los Angeles out of there. I do hope Pau Gasol can, as Lil Jon would scream, step his game up since I’m a fan of his work. He played like mildly better Carlos Boozer in this last series it seemed, and that’s not what LA needs from him.
Meanwhile the Spurs/Grizzlies series continues tonight back in Memphis for Game 6. The Grizzlies could become just the second 8 seed to beat the 1 seed since the first round became seven games. The Spurs comeback to win in overtime in Game 5 was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life so I’m excited for this game. The winner of this series will become cannon fodder for the OKC Thunder in the next round, but I’m still excited to see if the Grizzlies can win this series or if the Spurs can complete the come back from being down 3-1.
Either way, our second round matchups are nearly all set. Out in the East we shall see:
(1) Chicago Bulls vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks
(2) Miami Heat vs. (3) Boston Celtics
Then out West it shall be:
(4)Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Winner of Spurs/Grizzlies
(2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Dallas Mavericks
For fear of jinxing Chicago I will not comment on that series. For fear of putting some kind of curse on the Heat/Celtics series, I will not comment on it other than saying that is going to be the series to watch. It has been hyped up since July of last year when LeBron said he was taking his talents to South Beach. It is going to be crazy.
Out West OKC will finish off Memphis in five or San Antonio in six. The Lakers will dispose of Dallas in five most likely. I hope that isn’t the case, but I’m sure Los Angeles will once again be in the conference finals. We will catch them in the third round.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
UFC 129 Predictions
Saturday, April 30th marks UFC 129. Coming live from Ontario, the event has sold a UFC-record 55,000 seats and features a stacked card, highlighted by the main event of UFC Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre against Jake Shields and Randy Couture taking on Lyoto Machida in what Couture is saying will be his final match. I’m pretty stoked for this card, as it has the potential to be one of the most memorable ones this year. Let’s get right to the predictions.
Ben Henderson vs. Mark Bocek: This lightweight scrap pits the former WEC champ Henderson against the solid UFC vet Bocek. I don’t know too much about Bocek, but I like Bendo and if I had to guess, I would say this is going to be the Fight of the Night. Bocek is a submission expert, with seven of his nine wins coming that way, but Bendo has eight of his twelve wins the same way. I look for this to be an exciting, fast-paced bout and I’m going to go with Henderson by decision.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz: The last time we saw Matyushenko, he was rebounding from a dominating loss to Jon Jones by knocking out some dude I’ve never heard of at UFC 122 last November. Brilz has not been seen since almost upsetting Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114, when he replaced an injured Forrest Griffin on short notice. I do not expect this to be a very good fight, as they are both slower fighters with wrestling bases and that combination can be lethally boring. I would say Matyushenko is a better striker, has better finishing abilities, a better nickname (The Janitor, as opposed to The Hitman) and has fought better competition throughout his career, plus Brilz hasn’t fought in nearly a year. Brilz is not a good enough fighter to make up for such a lengthy layoff. I’m going to say that Matyushenko wins this one by decision.
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida: This is a fight I don’t think many people would have expected to happen two years ago. Back then, Randy was coming off being finished by Lesnar and was a few months away from losing to Big Nog. Machida was on the cusp of annihilating Rashad Evans and becoming the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Fast forward to now and Randy has peeled off three straight victories and Machida received a KO loss at the hands of Shogun Rua and a split decision loss to Rampage Jackson, the first two defeats in his career. This fight is now a must-win for Machida, as three straight losses would send him spiraling down in the division. For Randy, this fight is allegedly going to be his last one, and he certainly picked a great opponent to go out on. The key to this fight is going to be distance. If Machida can keep the distance, he should be able to pick away at Randy with his arsenal of karate kicks and punches. If Randy can close the distance and bully Machida up against the fence, he could win this. The thing is, Randy is considerably slower than Machida and the much faster Rashad Evans was unable to mount any kind of serious offense against Machida when they fought. Another interesting thing to look out for wil be Machida’s mindset. How is he going to react coming off two straight losses? Will he eschew his more cautious style and attempt to push the pace more? In the end, I see this being Machida’s fight. I wouldn’t be stunned if Randy pulls off a victory, as anything is possible with that dude. I see this going two ways: Machida picks him apart from the outside for a decision win, or knowing he needs to make a statement in a big way finishes Couture. I’m going with the second option and picking Machida by 2nd Round KO.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, Jr. vs. Mark Hominick: Jose Aldo is a bad dude and this will be his first fight in the UFC, and first since knocking the hell out of Manny Gamburyan last September. Hominick is a veteran fighter coming off a first round knockout win against George Roop in January. I don’t know anything about Hominick other than that he trains with Shawn Tompkins and is supposed to be a pretty good striker, but I do know Aldo and that man is a killing machine. I worry about him though, since he is coming off of a neck injury suffered back in January. Despite that and claims of Hominick being a devastating puncher, I am going with Aldo. That man’s kicks are beastly and I think he will use them brutally and effectively. Aldo by 3rd Round TKO.
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields: The main event of the evening, and one of the toughest matches GSP has ever had to face, as Shields’ wrestling and jiu jitsu are on par with his. GSP has a marked advantage in striking however, as Shields’ standup is barely above rudimentary. The bigger story going into this fight has been whether or not GSP moves up to middleweight after this fight and takes on Anderson Silva. People, myself included, are severely overlooking Shields in this fight by doing that. If he can get Georges down and get top control, he could at the very least steal a round or two. His top game is smothering and he has the potential to get submissions anytime he is in control. I don’t know that he can get Georges down though. If he does, who knows how good GSP’s defense is from the bottom? I can’t even remember the last time that St. Pierre was in a position to defend himself off his back. The only thing I know is that Georges has not reacted the best when put in a disadvantageous situation, like in Hughes I and Serra I. Shields’ best chance to win is to get GSP down early and look for a submission. If he can’t get one by the second round, he isn’t going to win this fight. If Georges keeps the fight standing, through the early rounds he can wear Shields down on his way to a late finish or another decision win. I don’t think taking Shields down and trying the ground and pound is the best option early, as Shields’ ground defense is very good. The standup is the way to go. I think he picks Shields apart for three rounds with his superior and GSP finishes this by a 4th Round TKO from strikes.
If you get the chance to see this pay per view, by all means you should. Even the prelims are looking to be exciting, as Nate Diaz will be fighting on the Spike TV undercard. As always, thanks for reading and if you have predictions of your own please feel free to post them in the comments or on facebook or let me know and I’ll post them here on the blog.
Ben Henderson vs. Mark Bocek: This lightweight scrap pits the former WEC champ Henderson against the solid UFC vet Bocek. I don’t know too much about Bocek, but I like Bendo and if I had to guess, I would say this is going to be the Fight of the Night. Bocek is a submission expert, with seven of his nine wins coming that way, but Bendo has eight of his twelve wins the same way. I look for this to be an exciting, fast-paced bout and I’m going to go with Henderson by decision.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz: The last time we saw Matyushenko, he was rebounding from a dominating loss to Jon Jones by knocking out some dude I’ve never heard of at UFC 122 last November. Brilz has not been seen since almost upsetting Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114, when he replaced an injured Forrest Griffin on short notice. I do not expect this to be a very good fight, as they are both slower fighters with wrestling bases and that combination can be lethally boring. I would say Matyushenko is a better striker, has better finishing abilities, a better nickname (The Janitor, as opposed to The Hitman) and has fought better competition throughout his career, plus Brilz hasn’t fought in nearly a year. Brilz is not a good enough fighter to make up for such a lengthy layoff. I’m going to say that Matyushenko wins this one by decision.
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida: This is a fight I don’t think many people would have expected to happen two years ago. Back then, Randy was coming off being finished by Lesnar and was a few months away from losing to Big Nog. Machida was on the cusp of annihilating Rashad Evans and becoming the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Fast forward to now and Randy has peeled off three straight victories and Machida received a KO loss at the hands of Shogun Rua and a split decision loss to Rampage Jackson, the first two defeats in his career. This fight is now a must-win for Machida, as three straight losses would send him spiraling down in the division. For Randy, this fight is allegedly going to be his last one, and he certainly picked a great opponent to go out on. The key to this fight is going to be distance. If Machida can keep the distance, he should be able to pick away at Randy with his arsenal of karate kicks and punches. If Randy can close the distance and bully Machida up against the fence, he could win this. The thing is, Randy is considerably slower than Machida and the much faster Rashad Evans was unable to mount any kind of serious offense against Machida when they fought. Another interesting thing to look out for wil be Machida’s mindset. How is he going to react coming off two straight losses? Will he eschew his more cautious style and attempt to push the pace more? In the end, I see this being Machida’s fight. I wouldn’t be stunned if Randy pulls off a victory, as anything is possible with that dude. I see this going two ways: Machida picks him apart from the outside for a decision win, or knowing he needs to make a statement in a big way finishes Couture. I’m going with the second option and picking Machida by 2nd Round KO.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, Jr. vs. Mark Hominick: Jose Aldo is a bad dude and this will be his first fight in the UFC, and first since knocking the hell out of Manny Gamburyan last September. Hominick is a veteran fighter coming off a first round knockout win against George Roop in January. I don’t know anything about Hominick other than that he trains with Shawn Tompkins and is supposed to be a pretty good striker, but I do know Aldo and that man is a killing machine. I worry about him though, since he is coming off of a neck injury suffered back in January. Despite that and claims of Hominick being a devastating puncher, I am going with Aldo. That man’s kicks are beastly and I think he will use them brutally and effectively. Aldo by 3rd Round TKO.
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields: The main event of the evening, and one of the toughest matches GSP has ever had to face, as Shields’ wrestling and jiu jitsu are on par with his. GSP has a marked advantage in striking however, as Shields’ standup is barely above rudimentary. The bigger story going into this fight has been whether or not GSP moves up to middleweight after this fight and takes on Anderson Silva. People, myself included, are severely overlooking Shields in this fight by doing that. If he can get Georges down and get top control, he could at the very least steal a round or two. His top game is smothering and he has the potential to get submissions anytime he is in control. I don’t know that he can get Georges down though. If he does, who knows how good GSP’s defense is from the bottom? I can’t even remember the last time that St. Pierre was in a position to defend himself off his back. The only thing I know is that Georges has not reacted the best when put in a disadvantageous situation, like in Hughes I and Serra I. Shields’ best chance to win is to get GSP down early and look for a submission. If he can’t get one by the second round, he isn’t going to win this fight. If Georges keeps the fight standing, through the early rounds he can wear Shields down on his way to a late finish or another decision win. I don’t think taking Shields down and trying the ground and pound is the best option early, as Shields’ ground defense is very good. The standup is the way to go. I think he picks Shields apart for three rounds with his superior and GSP finishes this by a 4th Round TKO from strikes.
If you get the chance to see this pay per view, by all means you should. Even the prelims are looking to be exciting, as Nate Diaz will be fighting on the Spike TV undercard. As always, thanks for reading and if you have predictions of your own please feel free to post them in the comments or on facebook or let me know and I’ll post them here on the blog.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
You Can Act Like a Man: A rant on the weak Indiana Pacers
Aside from people who don’t hold the door open for those behind them, nothing in life pisses me off more than poor sports. Of course as a little kid I’d flip out if I lost in games and I’d be ruined. I try not to do that as I’ve grown up but it still comes out. Granted I’m talking about video games or board games, but it is still childish and lame to freak out about losing. Freaking out about that stuff when you’re a kid is one thing, but for an adult professional athlete making millions of dollars a year to act like a baby after losing is something that drives me over the edge. When you’re a grown ass man and you lose, own up and accept it like a man then use it to go back and get better. Don’t go around bitching or making excuses.
I hate it when people pull a Carmelo Anthony and make a bunch of excuses as to why their team lost and then say, “But I’m not making excuses.”
I hate it when greatest fighter of all time Anderson Silva dodges all of Vitor Belfort’s punches, easily discards Vitor’s takedown attempt, and then kicks Vitor in the face and lays him out and a few weeks later Vitor starts saying Silva only won because of luck, but he doesn’t believe in luck, but basically he’s saying it was luck.
I was once briefly a LeBron James fan but gave up on him after he started acting like a prick. The epitome of his pre-The Decision dickness came after losing to the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Rather than shake hands and tell Dwight Howard and Co. good game as the series ended, LeBron stormed off the court refusing to shake hands or talk to the press. His reasoning for this was because he’s a “winner.” No, I’m pretty sure it is because he’s a baby.
But last night I was not pleased when the Chicago Bulls finally closed out their first round series against the Indiana Pacers. Granted that was a very happy moment as the Bulls routed Indy 116-89. Derrick Rose took it to a whole new level in the third quarter. When the Pacers got within four, Rose assisted Taj Gibson on a jumper. That was the beginning of the end for Indiana.
Watch this. Rose, injured left ankle and all, hits a three. Then he goes and blocks a Roy Hibbert dunk, and yes Hibbert is over 7 feet while Rose is maybe 6’3”. Then Rose hits two more threes. He even hit a free throw somewhere in there too. That beefed up Chicago’s lead and essentially finished the game. Up until the deciding game when Chicago ramped up the intensity and blew Indiana out of the water, it was a tough series and both teams played hard, my man. But Indiana’s star player Danny Granger had to ruin it.
In his post-game interview, Granger said Bulls center Joakim Noah is a dirty player. He said this because during Game 5 Noah’s energy and intensity which helped pump up the Chicago crowd and the rest of the team, got under the skin of some Pacers. Josh McRoberts threw some womanly strikes at Noah and got ejected for it. McRoberts was claiming Noah elbowed him in the throat so he had to retaliate. While there was an elbow by Noah it should be pointed out McRoberts was shoving him at the same time and this series has been classic physical playoff basketball so it is whatever. Later on Tyler Hansbrough started getting pushy with Noah as well since Noah was acting in a way Granger described as “cowardly.” With this being one of the most physical playoff series in recent memory, I tend to think it was more frustration out of getting stomped out and sent home than Noah being a dirty player.
Joakim Noah is not a dirty player at all. To somebody who is not a Bulls fan Noah may be ugly, annoying, and an asshole but to say he is a dirty player is ridiculous. Bruce Bowen was a dirty player, Derek Fisher is a dirty player, Kevin Garnett can be a dirty player, but Noah is not like that. Noah brings so much energy and heart to a game that if he’s on your team you’d love him but if he isn’t on your team you think he’s an annoying dick. The latter was the view the Pacers took and it led them to act like babies.
But Granger wasn’t being a baby, man, he was just standing up for his teammates. He tried to go after Noah when the players were shaking hands after the game. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau intervened, which I’m sure was terrifying for Granger since if you type in Tom Thibodeau in a Youtube search, the first search suggestion is “Tom Thibodeau yelling.” Thibs is an intense man. Granger is a punk bitch.
Granger went on to say that once “you start cheap-shotting people it gets out of hand.” Ah yeah, those god damn fucking son of a bitch Chicago Bulls and their cheap shots and dirty play reminiscent of the 2007 San Antonio Spurs. Uhhhh what? All series we’ve heard about the lack of physicality from the Bulls. Scottie Pippen said the Bulls had to start fouling people hard and standing up for themselves….because the Pacers were the team using dirty tricks and hard fouls.
As Basketbawful pointed out earlier, Pacers reserve center Jeff Foster was at the forefront of dirty play as two of his fouls against the Bulls were ruled as flagrant. First he went after Rose’s face, then he cheaply elbowed Deng in the head. Also in Game 1 Rose got in his face after a cheap foul that involved Foster clubbing at his head. Josh McRoberts, Johnny I Have To Defend Myself Against Blows I Feel Are Cheap, cheaply elbowed Rose in the face following Rose’s monster dunk in Game 4.
After seeing that shit, how am I supposed to believe Joakim Noah is some dirty player because in a scramble for a rebound he got into it a little with McRoberts and Hansbrough? Keep in mind the Bulls did not once call McRoberts or Foster dirty players. When asked about Foster’s cheap foul in Game 1, Tom Thibodeau just said Foster is a hard worker and given a lot of great years to the league. Everybody said it is playoff basketball and this is the game. Then after a massive blowout loss ending the Pacers’s season, Danny Granger tries to make Joakim Noah look like a shit head.
And McRoberts and Hansbrough can go suck a fat baby’s balls for getting so upset that Noah was constantly attacking and bringing energy while their team was losing. It wasn’t even like Noah was dancing like LeBron James when the Cavs would beat shit teams. Noah was just pumping up the crowd in the United Center and was working his ass off. His grandfather who had never seen him play in the NBA was there so he was pumped, and this was the series clinching game for a Bulls team with championship aspirations. The Bulls were flat all series and Noah's energy was the catalyst behind their good play last night. He wasn’t shit talking the Pacers, they were just being sore losers. I wasn’t aware trying hard and pumping up the crowd is “cowardly.”
Noah had nothing but praise for the Pacers after the game, saying they played hard as hell. Swingman Kyle Korver pointed out that the playoffs are physical so this stuff happens, as well as stating the Pacers were upset because they were down by a lot so they were frustrated. He also pointed out the Pacers were the team giving hard fouls through the first four games so this anger at the Bulls makes no sense. Agreed.
Either way, this has only given me more reason to not like the Pacers. McRoberts and Hansbrough were punks for trying to get into it with Noah just because they were losing, Foster is a punk for head hunting, and Danny Granger is the biggest punk of all for having a selective memory over what has happened in this series. McRoberts and Hansbrough going after Noah in the heat of the game can be understood I guess since in the heat of the game you get crazy, but Granger acting like a child and talking trash after the game is messed up.
As Don Vito Corleone told Johnny Fontane, “You can act like a man.” When you lose, lose with dignity. Karl Malone still gave the Bulls props when losing to them in the Finals for the second straight year in 1998. Even when the Phoenix Suns got screwed against the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 Steve Nash still hugged Spurs players and gave them props, he didn’t try to confront them and start shit. McRoberts’s wussy punches and Granger’s trash talk hurts that reputation as a tough, scrappy team the Pacers built in this series and instead makes it seem like they have a weak ass childish leader and are sore losers. Rather than just say it was a good series, Granger had to let his frustration of almost toppling a championship hopeful only to get smashed take over and say stupid things.
On the bright side though, the Indiana Pacers are out of the NBA Playoffs.
And let me just state my above statement on KG being dirty from time to time does not change the fact he's one of the best ever and one of my favorites ever. I'll cry when he retires, but that doesn't change the fact he undercut Channing Frye and smacked up his dick.
I hate it when people pull a Carmelo Anthony and make a bunch of excuses as to why their team lost and then say, “But I’m not making excuses.”
I hate it when greatest fighter of all time Anderson Silva dodges all of Vitor Belfort’s punches, easily discards Vitor’s takedown attempt, and then kicks Vitor in the face and lays him out and a few weeks later Vitor starts saying Silva only won because of luck, but he doesn’t believe in luck, but basically he’s saying it was luck.
I was once briefly a LeBron James fan but gave up on him after he started acting like a prick. The epitome of his pre-The Decision dickness came after losing to the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Rather than shake hands and tell Dwight Howard and Co. good game as the series ended, LeBron stormed off the court refusing to shake hands or talk to the press. His reasoning for this was because he’s a “winner.” No, I’m pretty sure it is because he’s a baby.
But last night I was not pleased when the Chicago Bulls finally closed out their first round series against the Indiana Pacers. Granted that was a very happy moment as the Bulls routed Indy 116-89. Derrick Rose took it to a whole new level in the third quarter. When the Pacers got within four, Rose assisted Taj Gibson on a jumper. That was the beginning of the end for Indiana.
Watch this. Rose, injured left ankle and all, hits a three. Then he goes and blocks a Roy Hibbert dunk, and yes Hibbert is over 7 feet while Rose is maybe 6’3”. Then Rose hits two more threes. He even hit a free throw somewhere in there too. That beefed up Chicago’s lead and essentially finished the game. Up until the deciding game when Chicago ramped up the intensity and blew Indiana out of the water, it was a tough series and both teams played hard, my man. But Indiana’s star player Danny Granger had to ruin it.
In his post-game interview, Granger said Bulls center Joakim Noah is a dirty player. He said this because during Game 5 Noah’s energy and intensity which helped pump up the Chicago crowd and the rest of the team, got under the skin of some Pacers. Josh McRoberts threw some womanly strikes at Noah and got ejected for it. McRoberts was claiming Noah elbowed him in the throat so he had to retaliate. While there was an elbow by Noah it should be pointed out McRoberts was shoving him at the same time and this series has been classic physical playoff basketball so it is whatever. Later on Tyler Hansbrough started getting pushy with Noah as well since Noah was acting in a way Granger described as “cowardly.” With this being one of the most physical playoff series in recent memory, I tend to think it was more frustration out of getting stomped out and sent home than Noah being a dirty player.
Joakim Noah is not a dirty player at all. To somebody who is not a Bulls fan Noah may be ugly, annoying, and an asshole but to say he is a dirty player is ridiculous. Bruce Bowen was a dirty player, Derek Fisher is a dirty player, Kevin Garnett can be a dirty player, but Noah is not like that. Noah brings so much energy and heart to a game that if he’s on your team you’d love him but if he isn’t on your team you think he’s an annoying dick. The latter was the view the Pacers took and it led them to act like babies.
But Granger wasn’t being a baby, man, he was just standing up for his teammates. He tried to go after Noah when the players were shaking hands after the game. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau intervened, which I’m sure was terrifying for Granger since if you type in Tom Thibodeau in a Youtube search, the first search suggestion is “Tom Thibodeau yelling.” Thibs is an intense man. Granger is a punk bitch.
Granger went on to say that once “you start cheap-shotting people it gets out of hand.” Ah yeah, those god damn fucking son of a bitch Chicago Bulls and their cheap shots and dirty play reminiscent of the 2007 San Antonio Spurs. Uhhhh what? All series we’ve heard about the lack of physicality from the Bulls. Scottie Pippen said the Bulls had to start fouling people hard and standing up for themselves….because the Pacers were the team using dirty tricks and hard fouls.
As Basketbawful pointed out earlier, Pacers reserve center Jeff Foster was at the forefront of dirty play as two of his fouls against the Bulls were ruled as flagrant. First he went after Rose’s face, then he cheaply elbowed Deng in the head. Also in Game 1 Rose got in his face after a cheap foul that involved Foster clubbing at his head. Josh McRoberts, Johnny I Have To Defend Myself Against Blows I Feel Are Cheap, cheaply elbowed Rose in the face following Rose’s monster dunk in Game 4.
After seeing that shit, how am I supposed to believe Joakim Noah is some dirty player because in a scramble for a rebound he got into it a little with McRoberts and Hansbrough? Keep in mind the Bulls did not once call McRoberts or Foster dirty players. When asked about Foster’s cheap foul in Game 1, Tom Thibodeau just said Foster is a hard worker and given a lot of great years to the league. Everybody said it is playoff basketball and this is the game. Then after a massive blowout loss ending the Pacers’s season, Danny Granger tries to make Joakim Noah look like a shit head.
And McRoberts and Hansbrough can go suck a fat baby’s balls for getting so upset that Noah was constantly attacking and bringing energy while their team was losing. It wasn’t even like Noah was dancing like LeBron James when the Cavs would beat shit teams. Noah was just pumping up the crowd in the United Center and was working his ass off. His grandfather who had never seen him play in the NBA was there so he was pumped, and this was the series clinching game for a Bulls team with championship aspirations. The Bulls were flat all series and Noah's energy was the catalyst behind their good play last night. He wasn’t shit talking the Pacers, they were just being sore losers. I wasn’t aware trying hard and pumping up the crowd is “cowardly.”
Noah had nothing but praise for the Pacers after the game, saying they played hard as hell. Swingman Kyle Korver pointed out that the playoffs are physical so this stuff happens, as well as stating the Pacers were upset because they were down by a lot so they were frustrated. He also pointed out the Pacers were the team giving hard fouls through the first four games so this anger at the Bulls makes no sense. Agreed.
Either way, this has only given me more reason to not like the Pacers. McRoberts and Hansbrough were punks for trying to get into it with Noah just because they were losing, Foster is a punk for head hunting, and Danny Granger is the biggest punk of all for having a selective memory over what has happened in this series. McRoberts and Hansbrough going after Noah in the heat of the game can be understood I guess since in the heat of the game you get crazy, but Granger acting like a child and talking trash after the game is messed up.
As Don Vito Corleone told Johnny Fontane, “You can act like a man.” When you lose, lose with dignity. Karl Malone still gave the Bulls props when losing to them in the Finals for the second straight year in 1998. Even when the Phoenix Suns got screwed against the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 Steve Nash still hugged Spurs players and gave them props, he didn’t try to confront them and start shit. McRoberts’s wussy punches and Granger’s trash talk hurts that reputation as a tough, scrappy team the Pacers built in this series and instead makes it seem like they have a weak ass childish leader and are sore losers. Rather than just say it was a good series, Granger had to let his frustration of almost toppling a championship hopeful only to get smashed take over and say stupid things.
On the bright side though, the Indiana Pacers are out of the NBA Playoffs.
And let me just state my above statement on KG being dirty from time to time does not change the fact he's one of the best ever and one of my favorites ever. I'll cry when he retires, but that doesn't change the fact he undercut Channing Frye and smacked up his dick.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Crumbling Spurs
In an NBA regular season and Playoffs that have been more exciting than any in recent memory, there have been many new stories that developed, ranging from ascendant players and teams to surprising struggles. Somehow the San Antonio Spurs, a team that has been the model of consistency the past decade, has managed to be both a surprising success and a startling failure within the same season.
Before the season started, the Spurs were expected to win around 50-55 games like every other season, before exiting around the first or second round. After a seventh place finish out West last year and a second round sweeping at the hands of the Suns, no one really expected the Spurs to be anything close to a championship contender. Father Time seemed to be catching up to them as well, with Tim Duncan looking visibly older and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker becoming increasingly injury prone.
Once this season started, something improbable happened: the Spurs changed their style of play and became the best team in the NBA through February. Greg Popovich eschewed the slow paced, defense first mentality of San Antonio and turned them into a smaller, faster team that preferred the three ball to the low-post Tim Duncan based offense of their past. The thinking behind this was that Pop was brilliant and was using this strategy to preserve Duncan’s legs for the postseason. There was also the added bonus of getting the younger, less experienced players the reps and shots now in order to prepare for the Playoffs and beyond.
While the Spurs ended up with 61 wins, there were still doubts about them heading into the Playoffs. For starters, Ginobili suffered an elbow injury at the end of the regular season. This has undoubtedly made him less effective in the Playoffs thus far. The other question pertained to their defense. Everyone figured that San Antonio’s defensive intensity was going to go up several notches once the postseason got underway. The only problem was that at no point this season, did it really even seem like they were even capable of ratcheting up the pressure. Oddly enough, it turns out that Ginobil and defense are the least of the Spurs’ worries.
Contrary to all belief, Tim Duncan is pretty much done as the top dog on a team. He just doesn’t have what it takes physically to compete against guys like Marc Gasol and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Zach Randolph. He’s too old and his knees are too brittle to battle down low against those two, much less the Lakers’ tandem of Bynum/Gasol/Odom. This fact is exacerbated by the fact that I’m pretty sure Duncan is the only player on that team taller than 6’8. The Grizzlies have been able to have their way around the hoop because Duncan is the only guy there who can block a shot or clog the lane, and he can only play so many minutes. As for the smaller guys, none of them can be considered defensive stoppers. The Spurs need someone like Bruce Bowen or Tony Allen that can slow down players in the backcourt and make up for the lack of frontcourt depth.
The Spurs could still be a solid team going forth if they make some changes. The aforementioned defensive stopper and some size up front would help. Duncan can still contribute decent numbers and minutes; it isn’t like he’s Shaq. At this point in his career, he should just simply be a power forward playing about 26-31 minutes a night. A real big man taller than DeJuan Blair and younger than Antonio McDyess could add three years to Duncan’s career. Someone like Dallas’ Tyson Chandler or Portland’s Greg Oden, both free agents, could fill that role. That defensive stopper role could be filled by Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko or Memphis’ Shane Battier. Either way, there are changes necessary deep in the heart of Texas.
Before the season started, the Spurs were expected to win around 50-55 games like every other season, before exiting around the first or second round. After a seventh place finish out West last year and a second round sweeping at the hands of the Suns, no one really expected the Spurs to be anything close to a championship contender. Father Time seemed to be catching up to them as well, with Tim Duncan looking visibly older and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker becoming increasingly injury prone.
Once this season started, something improbable happened: the Spurs changed their style of play and became the best team in the NBA through February. Greg Popovich eschewed the slow paced, defense first mentality of San Antonio and turned them into a smaller, faster team that preferred the three ball to the low-post Tim Duncan based offense of their past. The thinking behind this was that Pop was brilliant and was using this strategy to preserve Duncan’s legs for the postseason. There was also the added bonus of getting the younger, less experienced players the reps and shots now in order to prepare for the Playoffs and beyond.
While the Spurs ended up with 61 wins, there were still doubts about them heading into the Playoffs. For starters, Ginobili suffered an elbow injury at the end of the regular season. This has undoubtedly made him less effective in the Playoffs thus far. The other question pertained to their defense. Everyone figured that San Antonio’s defensive intensity was going to go up several notches once the postseason got underway. The only problem was that at no point this season, did it really even seem like they were even capable of ratcheting up the pressure. Oddly enough, it turns out that Ginobil and defense are the least of the Spurs’ worries.
Contrary to all belief, Tim Duncan is pretty much done as the top dog on a team. He just doesn’t have what it takes physically to compete against guys like Marc Gasol and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Zach Randolph. He’s too old and his knees are too brittle to battle down low against those two, much less the Lakers’ tandem of Bynum/Gasol/Odom. This fact is exacerbated by the fact that I’m pretty sure Duncan is the only player on that team taller than 6’8. The Grizzlies have been able to have their way around the hoop because Duncan is the only guy there who can block a shot or clog the lane, and he can only play so many minutes. As for the smaller guys, none of them can be considered defensive stoppers. The Spurs need someone like Bruce Bowen or Tony Allen that can slow down players in the backcourt and make up for the lack of frontcourt depth.
The Spurs could still be a solid team going forth if they make some changes. The aforementioned defensive stopper and some size up front would help. Duncan can still contribute decent numbers and minutes; it isn’t like he’s Shaq. At this point in his career, he should just simply be a power forward playing about 26-31 minutes a night. A real big man taller than DeJuan Blair and younger than Antonio McDyess could add three years to Duncan’s career. Someone like Dallas’ Tyson Chandler or Portland’s Greg Oden, both free agents, could fill that role. That defensive stopper role could be filled by Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko or Memphis’ Shane Battier. Either way, there are changes necessary deep in the heart of Texas.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Rajon Rondo is a killer!
I’ve been pretty quiet about the NBA Playoffs thus far, having only posted predictions for the first round. There have been some surprises, like the Grizzlies and the Hornets winning in the first games of their respective series, and the Bulls not playing to expectations so far. Another surprise has been how competitive the Knicks were against hte Celtics in the first two games of their first round series. This came to an end last night at the Garden, as the Celtics beasted on New York in a game that wasn’t even competitive. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen combined for 70 points, but the catalyst behind this victory was Rajon Rondo.
Rondo finished the game with a triple double: 15 points, 11 rebounds, and a gaudy 20 assists. When Rondo has numbers like that, Boston will always wins. It’s more than just the stats, although the two are connected. When Rondo puts up those numbers, that means he is playing aggressively, pushing the pace of the game, and seeing the floor and action at least two steps ahead of everyone else. When he plays like that, everyone else on the team follows his lead. Paul Pierce in particular plays much better when Rondo is like this, as he gets more open looks and doesn’t have to work as hard to create his own shot.
More than any player on Boston, Rondo can completely change the course of a game. He is nearly impossible to contain in the open floor and his ability as a passer is unparalleled. Since February, he has been lethargic and hesitant on offense and defense and that is a big part in Boston’s lackluster record over the past few months. If you look at the numbers he was producing in the beginning of the season when the Celtics were rolling, they are comparable to his Game 3 performance against the Knicks.
While it always seems like it’s Garnett that gives the Celtics their swagger, it is Rondo. Look at the team last nite. They were laughing and joking with each other and were just vicious on the Knicks. Compare that to the first two games, where that intensity wasn’t really present until the last few minutes of the games. Look at the playoffs last year. Boston abused Cleveland because of the way Rondo shredded them. More recently, look at the first three games they played against the Heat. Rondo annihilated them and the rest of the team followed suit.
Thanks in large part to Game 3, it is apparent the Knicks are done and that Boston is heading into a 2nd Round matchup with the Miami Heat in what is probably going to be the most anticipated pairing of the entire NBA Playoffs, Finals included. If Rondo plays against them the way he did last night, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will be cursing out the Celtics for the second straight summer.
Rondo finished the game with a triple double: 15 points, 11 rebounds, and a gaudy 20 assists. When Rondo has numbers like that, Boston will always wins. It’s more than just the stats, although the two are connected. When Rondo puts up those numbers, that means he is playing aggressively, pushing the pace of the game, and seeing the floor and action at least two steps ahead of everyone else. When he plays like that, everyone else on the team follows his lead. Paul Pierce in particular plays much better when Rondo is like this, as he gets more open looks and doesn’t have to work as hard to create his own shot.
More than any player on Boston, Rondo can completely change the course of a game. He is nearly impossible to contain in the open floor and his ability as a passer is unparalleled. Since February, he has been lethargic and hesitant on offense and defense and that is a big part in Boston’s lackluster record over the past few months. If you look at the numbers he was producing in the beginning of the season when the Celtics were rolling, they are comparable to his Game 3 performance against the Knicks.
While it always seems like it’s Garnett that gives the Celtics their swagger, it is Rondo. Look at the team last nite. They were laughing and joking with each other and were just vicious on the Knicks. Compare that to the first two games, where that intensity wasn’t really present until the last few minutes of the games. Look at the playoffs last year. Boston abused Cleveland because of the way Rondo shredded them. More recently, look at the first three games they played against the Heat. Rondo annihilated them and the rest of the team followed suit.
Thanks in large part to Game 3, it is apparent the Knicks are done and that Boston is heading into a 2nd Round matchup with the Miami Heat in what is probably going to be the most anticipated pairing of the entire NBA Playoffs, Finals included. If Rondo plays against them the way he did last night, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will be cursing out the Celtics for the second straight summer.
Monday, April 18, 2011
My favorite bits of the first NBA Playoff Weekend
The first weekend of the NBA Playoffs has passed us by, and we’ve witnessed some serious madness. If the title doesn’t say enough let me reiterate, I’m going to go into my favorite bits of the NBA Playoffs thus far. Let’s do it to it.
Derrick Rose on Darren Collison…and the rest of the Pacers – In Game 1 of the Bulls/Pacers series, Rose blocked Collison three times during the game, but none more badass than the destruction in the first quarter. Collison thought he had a lay up, Rose thought otherwise and blocked his ass, then sprinted up the court, spun through the Indiana defense, and hit the lay up. That’s some hard shit.
Danny Granger: “We want the Bulls,” Derrick Rose: “No you fucking don’t, son.” – That isn’t what Rose actually said, unless you count his play as his words. The Pacers led all game and held a five point lead with two minutes left. Then Rose scored five straight to tie the game, and had the assist to Kyle Korver for the three to take the lead. Rose then hit the two free throws to ice the game. Oh and he had an assist for a Noah dunk before he scored those five straight. Rose’s stats in the last two and a half minutes: 7 points, two boards, two assists. If that isn’t clutch, I don’t know what is. Oh and that all capped off a 39 point, 6 rebound, 6 assist game. If you want the Bulls that means you get to play against Derrick Rose, and I don’t think anybody wishes that upon themselves.
Kyle Korver: Life Saver – See the above paragraph. When that three went down I nearly started crying. Great life moment.
Kirk Hinrich – In Game 1 of Atlanta’s match up with Orlando, Kirk Hinrich had his best offensive game in like forever. He had 13 points on 6-10 shooting. After the stink bomb he laid all last season that caused me to forget he was still in the NBA this year, I was happy to see the former Bull play a good game.
Dirk Nowitzki – As I was half asleep I watched the former MVP put on a clinic in the fourth quarter and secure the victory for Dallas. I don’t like how so many people are talking shit about this Mavericks team right now, so I’m glad Dirk came to life and carried them to a big win in a big game. A lot of people think Portland can win that series, but I hope not.
Zach Randolph – Randolph used to be a bit of a joke. He could fill up a stat line but would do it in the most inefficient way imaginable. Because of his poor play, my favorite blog Basketbawful used to feature him in their title banner commemorating the best of the worst. Then last season Bawful took him down since Zeebo’s move to the Memphis Grizzlies completely changed how he played the game. He was suddenly an effective leader and player. The days of plays like this were gone. Yesterday in Game 1 against the West’s 1 seed San Antonio Spurs, Randolph dropped 25 and 14 on 10-15 shooting and helped lead the Grizzlies to their first ever victory in the post season. I love watching Zeebo’s evolution from joke to leader, so I was glad to see he had such a good game.
Chris Paul & the Hornets – They beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 yesterday, and oh how beautiful it was. Kobe missed at least 50 shots in the fourth quarter, and Chris Paul, who I hate only a little less than I hate Kobe, hit a bunch of big shots. It was impressive and made me pretty happy. I don’t want the Lakers three-peating since people will try to compare Kobe and Jordan, so I take glee in each LA loss. Of course this is just a reverse stat curse and now the Lakers won’t lose another game in the rest of the post season because of this.
Kobe Bryant – Peep this play by play. Starting with 5:56 left, the supposed best clutch player in the game missed every shot he took. Again, this is going to work as a reverse stat curse and make me regret being so happy, but I’ll enjoy these great moments while they last. Of course you wouldn’t have realized his unclutchness while watching the game since every time Kobe shot the ball Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy raved about how Jordan-esque Kobe’s game is and they kept blaming Pau Gasol for the Lakers doing poorly. Whatever dude, if Kobe didn’t act like it was 2006 again and monopolize the ball in the last six minutes then maybe things would have been different.
The Knicks – They lost! I’m so happy!
Kevin Garnett – KG did not have the best shooting night, but he did have a nasty oop to pull Boston within one in the final moments. In case all you mother fuckers forgot, Kevin Garnett could have been one of the like three best ever. Now he has no knees and has to anchor the Celtic defense, but he can still get up. To see him do that, and do it in the clutch, made me stand up and pace around with my fist in the air. But the best hadn’t happened yet.
Ray Allen – After what he did I made my facebook status something about how the only shot in NBA history better than Michael Jordan’s fade away is Ray Allen’s sweet jumper. The only thing that makes his jumper even sweeter is when it is a game winner. The only thing that makes a game winner sweeter than anything is when it happens to the Knicks. Down one with seconds left, Jesus Shuttlesworth stepped up and dropped the three that sealed the game. What a boss he is.
Denver Nuggets – My boy Sean Loucks will be happy I mention them. I hope Denver’s series with the Thunder goes seven games since I love watching the Nuggets play in the post ‘Melo era. I was pissed since the Nuggets got screwed last night when the refs blatantly ignored calling a goaltend on the basket that put the Thunder up for good with a minute left, but if that first game was any indication then this series is going to be crazy. In the words of Rasheed Wallace, “Both teams played hard, my man.” I said a few weeks ago I was going to be really excited to watch the Nuggets this post season since you never know who is going to step up and they’re playing so well. Nene is a beast, and even though he didn’t shoot well I’ve still never seen Kenyon Martin look like he cared as much as he did. This series has me pumped up.
That's it for now. Hopefully the rest of the playoffs keep up this intensity.
Derrick Rose on Darren Collison…and the rest of the Pacers – In Game 1 of the Bulls/Pacers series, Rose blocked Collison three times during the game, but none more badass than the destruction in the first quarter. Collison thought he had a lay up, Rose thought otherwise and blocked his ass, then sprinted up the court, spun through the Indiana defense, and hit the lay up. That’s some hard shit.
Danny Granger: “We want the Bulls,” Derrick Rose: “No you fucking don’t, son.” – That isn’t what Rose actually said, unless you count his play as his words. The Pacers led all game and held a five point lead with two minutes left. Then Rose scored five straight to tie the game, and had the assist to Kyle Korver for the three to take the lead. Rose then hit the two free throws to ice the game. Oh and he had an assist for a Noah dunk before he scored those five straight. Rose’s stats in the last two and a half minutes: 7 points, two boards, two assists. If that isn’t clutch, I don’t know what is. Oh and that all capped off a 39 point, 6 rebound, 6 assist game. If you want the Bulls that means you get to play against Derrick Rose, and I don’t think anybody wishes that upon themselves.
Kyle Korver: Life Saver – See the above paragraph. When that three went down I nearly started crying. Great life moment.
Kirk Hinrich – In Game 1 of Atlanta’s match up with Orlando, Kirk Hinrich had his best offensive game in like forever. He had 13 points on 6-10 shooting. After the stink bomb he laid all last season that caused me to forget he was still in the NBA this year, I was happy to see the former Bull play a good game.
Dirk Nowitzki – As I was half asleep I watched the former MVP put on a clinic in the fourth quarter and secure the victory for Dallas. I don’t like how so many people are talking shit about this Mavericks team right now, so I’m glad Dirk came to life and carried them to a big win in a big game. A lot of people think Portland can win that series, but I hope not.
Zach Randolph – Randolph used to be a bit of a joke. He could fill up a stat line but would do it in the most inefficient way imaginable. Because of his poor play, my favorite blog Basketbawful used to feature him in their title banner commemorating the best of the worst. Then last season Bawful took him down since Zeebo’s move to the Memphis Grizzlies completely changed how he played the game. He was suddenly an effective leader and player. The days of plays like this were gone. Yesterday in Game 1 against the West’s 1 seed San Antonio Spurs, Randolph dropped 25 and 14 on 10-15 shooting and helped lead the Grizzlies to their first ever victory in the post season. I love watching Zeebo’s evolution from joke to leader, so I was glad to see he had such a good game.
Chris Paul & the Hornets – They beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 yesterday, and oh how beautiful it was. Kobe missed at least 50 shots in the fourth quarter, and Chris Paul, who I hate only a little less than I hate Kobe, hit a bunch of big shots. It was impressive and made me pretty happy. I don’t want the Lakers three-peating since people will try to compare Kobe and Jordan, so I take glee in each LA loss. Of course this is just a reverse stat curse and now the Lakers won’t lose another game in the rest of the post season because of this.
Kobe Bryant – Peep this play by play. Starting with 5:56 left, the supposed best clutch player in the game missed every shot he took. Again, this is going to work as a reverse stat curse and make me regret being so happy, but I’ll enjoy these great moments while they last. Of course you wouldn’t have realized his unclutchness while watching the game since every time Kobe shot the ball Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy raved about how Jordan-esque Kobe’s game is and they kept blaming Pau Gasol for the Lakers doing poorly. Whatever dude, if Kobe didn’t act like it was 2006 again and monopolize the ball in the last six minutes then maybe things would have been different.
The Knicks – They lost! I’m so happy!
Kevin Garnett – KG did not have the best shooting night, but he did have a nasty oop to pull Boston within one in the final moments. In case all you mother fuckers forgot, Kevin Garnett could have been one of the like three best ever. Now he has no knees and has to anchor the Celtic defense, but he can still get up. To see him do that, and do it in the clutch, made me stand up and pace around with my fist in the air. But the best hadn’t happened yet.
Ray Allen – After what he did I made my facebook status something about how the only shot in NBA history better than Michael Jordan’s fade away is Ray Allen’s sweet jumper. The only thing that makes his jumper even sweeter is when it is a game winner. The only thing that makes a game winner sweeter than anything is when it happens to the Knicks. Down one with seconds left, Jesus Shuttlesworth stepped up and dropped the three that sealed the game. What a boss he is.
Denver Nuggets – My boy Sean Loucks will be happy I mention them. I hope Denver’s series with the Thunder goes seven games since I love watching the Nuggets play in the post ‘Melo era. I was pissed since the Nuggets got screwed last night when the refs blatantly ignored calling a goaltend on the basket that put the Thunder up for good with a minute left, but if that first game was any indication then this series is going to be crazy. In the words of Rasheed Wallace, “Both teams played hard, my man.” I said a few weeks ago I was going to be really excited to watch the Nuggets this post season since you never know who is going to step up and they’re playing so well. Nene is a beast, and even though he didn’t shoot well I’ve still never seen Kenyon Martin look like he cared as much as he did. This series has me pumped up.
That's it for now. Hopefully the rest of the playoffs keep up this intensity.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Joe's NBA End of the Season Award Picks
Like my brother, I too have compiled my list of NBA end of season awards. But my picks are considerably better than his since mine don’t involve any Portland Trailblazers winning. Of course my awards will be picked apart as being too biased, but I feel they’re pretty fair since I do pick apart what’s actually happened in the season to support my opinions. My brother was spot on with saying Elton Brand is Comeback Player of the Year, and since that isn’t a real award but he wrote about it anyways I had to put down two not real awards and write about it. Here we go.
Least Improved Player: Kevin Durant, Forward, Oklahoma City Thunder – Last year people saw Durant as one of two top MVP candidates. Over the summer people thought Durant was going to take LeBron’s MVP title away and become the best in the world. Then his point per game average dropped from 30 to 27, his field goal and three point percentage went down, his free throw percentage went down, and his rebounds went down. I’m not impressed by his performance. Russell Westbrook has seemingly been in the driver’s seat all season for OKC. Durant is still looked at as the top guy on the team, but he certainly hasn’t played like it all year. The MVP was supposed to be Durant’s crown this year, but instead he failed to live up to expectations.
Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, Guard-Forward, Phoenix Suns – As long as Vince plays, he will win this award every year. He's been laying stink bombs in Orlando for a while, so they shipped him to the Suns. Since being traded to Phoenix his field goal percentage dropped five percent, and he’s sucked and been very Vince like. He missed numerous unnecessary threes in an important late season game against the Lakers and it cost the Suns, finally putting them out of playoff contention. I hate Vince Carter and I don’t think it is a coincidence that he is on the Suns and they failed to reach the playoffs.
Most Improved Player: Derrick Rose, Guard, Chicago Bulls – You can say this is my bias, but I can tell you you’re wrong. It is true. Nobody in the league improved over the course of the summer as much as Derrick Rose. Kevin Love will win this award but he is undeserving. Love is a stat chaser on a shitty team. His improvement into a double double machine has given his team two more wins than last year…meaning the Timberwolves have only won 17 games. Then we have Derrick Rose. Couldn’t get to the line or shoot free throws that well in his first two years, suddenly he’s shooting 86% and getting to the line at will. He was a miserable three point shooter in his first two years, hitting only 24.5% of his attempts which amounted to 32 made threes. Suddenly this year he’s a 33% shooter from deep and hit 128. People said he couldn’t shoot jumpers, all of a sudden he’s got a mid range game. People said he wasn’t clutch, all of a sudden he’s hitting big shot after big shot for the Bulls. He had more blocks this year than his previous two seasons combined. His three point percentage, free throw percentage, points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks all increased. His team went from the 8 seed to the top record in the NBA. Yes they have a new coach in Tom Thibodeau and Luol Deng has come to life, but Rose’s improved play and leadership is what has elevated the team more than anything.
Defensive Player of the Year: Grant Hill, Forward, Phoenix Suns – Dwight Howard will win since he blocks a lot of shots, but that’s a bunch of crap. All Howard does is block shots. Meanwhile Hill is 38 and plays on a Suns team handicapped by having Vince Carter as well as nobody else who can play defense and is called upon to guard the best player on every opposing team. No matter how young, no matter what position they play, it is Hill's job to stop them and he's played excellent all season. Hill’s stats aren’t great, but basketball isn’t just about the numbers. He has to anchor his entire team’s defense and is relied on to give them hope on an entire side of the court. Howard’s defense consists of big blocks rather than actual manning up and playing defense. I’m not impressed by what he does. Grant Hill however is another story.
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Forward, Los Angeles Clippers – Oh come on this isn’t even worth explaining. He’s been historic, from his numbers to his dunks. He had this award sealed by the time he lit the Knicks up in the season's first month.
Sixth Man of the Year: Glen Davis, Forward-Center, Boston Celtics – My brother was spot on with everything he said about this award. Lamar Odom will likely win, but how are you a sixth man when you’ve started most of the season? Jason Terry is another candidate, but I’d like to see him do something more than score. Big Baby Davis is one of the most important pieces of the Celtics team. He is their back up power forward and center, meaning at 6’9” he’s up against guys much taller than him down low and he still outhustles them. He leads the NBA in charges taken as well. He’s a workhorse. Without Baby the Celtics would be cooked. He is relied on to make all the energy plays for the team and his hustle is what often seems to keep the C’s in games.
Coach of the Year: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls – This was a three way tie between Thibs, Doug Collins in Philadelphia, and George Karl in Denver. At the end of the day I had to go with Thibs not because he coaches my favorite team, but because he took a team that won 41 games the year before and turned them into the best team in the league behind 62 wins. He helped rebuild the roster over the summer in order to craft a savvy defensive squad. Then shit got rough when Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, his two post forces, both missed larges amounts of the season. Thibs still got the Bulls to play through it, turning Luol Deng from a player Bulls fans would love when he played well and absolutely hate when he played poorly into one of the most important players on a championship contender. Hell, Thibs made the Bulls into a contender. Everybody on the team has bought into his defense first philosophy, and the Bulls have been a juggernaut because of it. Karl has done so much with a Nuggets team people thought would do so little, and Collins has made the 76ers a team worth caring about, but at the end of the day no coach has completely transformed the culture of their team and made them play better than anybody could have imagined like Tom Thibodeau in Chicago.
Most Valuable Player: Derrick Rose, Guard, Chicago Bulls – If there was one award here that really should need no explanation, it would be this. But of course there are idiots out there who don’t agree with this choice and I’m so proud to say I’ve been a fan of Rose since the day the Bulls drafted him so I have to explain it. If you have followed the NBA at all this season and don’t think Poohdini is the MVP of the league then you are either high, a Miami Heat front runner who refuses to believe anybody not named LeBron is good, or a stat geek. People point to advanced statistics to try to say Rose isn’t MVP. I don’t give a fuck if his efficiency rating isn’t as high as LeBron’s or Dwight Howard’s, they don’t have to do anywhere near as much as Rose. Rose has to create everything for everybody everywhere. For me the Most Valuable Player award is about more than just numbers. There are certain criteria people need to live up to in order to qualify as el jugador más valioso, and Derrick Rose lives up to them:
1. He inspires and motivates his teammates through hard work and leadership. This is the most important piece to being the MVP. Rose is at the gym first, leaves last, and has busted his ass from the summer on because he wanted his team to go to new highs. His teammates absolutely love him and his undying and intense work ethic. Rose has shown a Michael Jordan-esque will to succeed since July of last year. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh joined up in Miami and Rose went out of his mind improving every aspect of his game to lift his team, and his teammates love it. Every time Rose is on the court his team believes they can win. No deficit is too large, no situation is too dire, and no team is too good for the Bulls to rise up and succeed. That mindset comes from the example Rose sets as a leader. Rose makes the Bulls, the city of Chicago, and every Bulls fan believe that no challenge is too great to be met.
2. His stats have improved. That isn’t always necessarily the most important since stats don’t tell the whole story, but as his game has gotten much better the Bulls have also gotten much better. Rose has made the case for Most Improved, and that level of improvement has propelled the Bulls to championship contenders. I’d say that makes him pretty valuable.
3. Rose leaves opposing fans and players, and even his teammates in awe. Look at the show he put on against the Knicks in the Garden the other night. Every dunk made even the Knicks fans pop. The Bulls play in other cities and fans will chant MVP for Rose. Players and coaches on other teams have been talking about what an animal Rose has been and how phenomenal his game is. His own teammates are consistently blown away. There’ve been at least 20 games where afterwards Carlos Boozer is freaking out about something Rose did. LeBron, Bosh, Juwan Howard, Doc Rivers, Kevin Durant, and countless other players and coaches have declared Rose to be the MVP this season. To stun your peers and get fans of other teams to freak out when you bust a move on their team is pretty special.
4. In the big games and big moments, you can count on him. When the game is on the line, you can put the ball in his hands. I was reading an article a week or two ago about how Rose’s shooting numbers in the last five minutes of the 4th quarter aren’t that impressive, but if you lower the time down to the last three minutes of the 4th then Rose is a beast. When the game is in the clutch moments, Derrick Rose has proven to be the most clutch player this year. He’s made big shot after big shot after big shot all season. The Lakers found out. So did Houston. Rose single handedly willed the Bulls into overtime against the Pacers with a massive 4th quarter surge. He’s put the team on his back and carrued them to victory in the big moments so many times. LeBron missed four straight game tying or winning shots in a row at one point in the season, but Rose has buried teams consistently. Rose has stepped his game up against Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, and dropped a career high 42 points on the then-league best San Antonio Spurs. In the games and moments you need him to play big in, he plays huge. That’s pretty valuable to me.
So with all that taken into consideration, how am I supposed to pick LeBron James because he has a better player efficiency rating? Or Dwight Howard, who gets suspended for getting too many technicals and costs his team? There’s only one MVP this season, and that is undoubtedly Derrick Rose.
That’s that. I probably won’t do playoff predictions since I don’t want to jinx teams I like, but I’ll write something on the playoffs at some point. Keep fighting.
Least Improved Player: Kevin Durant, Forward, Oklahoma City Thunder – Last year people saw Durant as one of two top MVP candidates. Over the summer people thought Durant was going to take LeBron’s MVP title away and become the best in the world. Then his point per game average dropped from 30 to 27, his field goal and three point percentage went down, his free throw percentage went down, and his rebounds went down. I’m not impressed by his performance. Russell Westbrook has seemingly been in the driver’s seat all season for OKC. Durant is still looked at as the top guy on the team, but he certainly hasn’t played like it all year. The MVP was supposed to be Durant’s crown this year, but instead he failed to live up to expectations.
Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, Guard-Forward, Phoenix Suns – As long as Vince plays, he will win this award every year. He's been laying stink bombs in Orlando for a while, so they shipped him to the Suns. Since being traded to Phoenix his field goal percentage dropped five percent, and he’s sucked and been very Vince like. He missed numerous unnecessary threes in an important late season game against the Lakers and it cost the Suns, finally putting them out of playoff contention. I hate Vince Carter and I don’t think it is a coincidence that he is on the Suns and they failed to reach the playoffs.
Most Improved Player: Derrick Rose, Guard, Chicago Bulls – You can say this is my bias, but I can tell you you’re wrong. It is true. Nobody in the league improved over the course of the summer as much as Derrick Rose. Kevin Love will win this award but he is undeserving. Love is a stat chaser on a shitty team. His improvement into a double double machine has given his team two more wins than last year…meaning the Timberwolves have only won 17 games. Then we have Derrick Rose. Couldn’t get to the line or shoot free throws that well in his first two years, suddenly he’s shooting 86% and getting to the line at will. He was a miserable three point shooter in his first two years, hitting only 24.5% of his attempts which amounted to 32 made threes. Suddenly this year he’s a 33% shooter from deep and hit 128. People said he couldn’t shoot jumpers, all of a sudden he’s got a mid range game. People said he wasn’t clutch, all of a sudden he’s hitting big shot after big shot for the Bulls. He had more blocks this year than his previous two seasons combined. His three point percentage, free throw percentage, points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks all increased. His team went from the 8 seed to the top record in the NBA. Yes they have a new coach in Tom Thibodeau and Luol Deng has come to life, but Rose’s improved play and leadership is what has elevated the team more than anything.
Defensive Player of the Year: Grant Hill, Forward, Phoenix Suns – Dwight Howard will win since he blocks a lot of shots, but that’s a bunch of crap. All Howard does is block shots. Meanwhile Hill is 38 and plays on a Suns team handicapped by having Vince Carter as well as nobody else who can play defense and is called upon to guard the best player on every opposing team. No matter how young, no matter what position they play, it is Hill's job to stop them and he's played excellent all season. Hill’s stats aren’t great, but basketball isn’t just about the numbers. He has to anchor his entire team’s defense and is relied on to give them hope on an entire side of the court. Howard’s defense consists of big blocks rather than actual manning up and playing defense. I’m not impressed by what he does. Grant Hill however is another story.
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Forward, Los Angeles Clippers – Oh come on this isn’t even worth explaining. He’s been historic, from his numbers to his dunks. He had this award sealed by the time he lit the Knicks up in the season's first month.
Sixth Man of the Year: Glen Davis, Forward-Center, Boston Celtics – My brother was spot on with everything he said about this award. Lamar Odom will likely win, but how are you a sixth man when you’ve started most of the season? Jason Terry is another candidate, but I’d like to see him do something more than score. Big Baby Davis is one of the most important pieces of the Celtics team. He is their back up power forward and center, meaning at 6’9” he’s up against guys much taller than him down low and he still outhustles them. He leads the NBA in charges taken as well. He’s a workhorse. Without Baby the Celtics would be cooked. He is relied on to make all the energy plays for the team and his hustle is what often seems to keep the C’s in games.
Coach of the Year: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls – This was a three way tie between Thibs, Doug Collins in Philadelphia, and George Karl in Denver. At the end of the day I had to go with Thibs not because he coaches my favorite team, but because he took a team that won 41 games the year before and turned them into the best team in the league behind 62 wins. He helped rebuild the roster over the summer in order to craft a savvy defensive squad. Then shit got rough when Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, his two post forces, both missed larges amounts of the season. Thibs still got the Bulls to play through it, turning Luol Deng from a player Bulls fans would love when he played well and absolutely hate when he played poorly into one of the most important players on a championship contender. Hell, Thibs made the Bulls into a contender. Everybody on the team has bought into his defense first philosophy, and the Bulls have been a juggernaut because of it. Karl has done so much with a Nuggets team people thought would do so little, and Collins has made the 76ers a team worth caring about, but at the end of the day no coach has completely transformed the culture of their team and made them play better than anybody could have imagined like Tom Thibodeau in Chicago.
Most Valuable Player: Derrick Rose, Guard, Chicago Bulls – If there was one award here that really should need no explanation, it would be this. But of course there are idiots out there who don’t agree with this choice and I’m so proud to say I’ve been a fan of Rose since the day the Bulls drafted him so I have to explain it. If you have followed the NBA at all this season and don’t think Poohdini is the MVP of the league then you are either high, a Miami Heat front runner who refuses to believe anybody not named LeBron is good, or a stat geek. People point to advanced statistics to try to say Rose isn’t MVP. I don’t give a fuck if his efficiency rating isn’t as high as LeBron’s or Dwight Howard’s, they don’t have to do anywhere near as much as Rose. Rose has to create everything for everybody everywhere. For me the Most Valuable Player award is about more than just numbers. There are certain criteria people need to live up to in order to qualify as el jugador más valioso, and Derrick Rose lives up to them:
1. He inspires and motivates his teammates through hard work and leadership. This is the most important piece to being the MVP. Rose is at the gym first, leaves last, and has busted his ass from the summer on because he wanted his team to go to new highs. His teammates absolutely love him and his undying and intense work ethic. Rose has shown a Michael Jordan-esque will to succeed since July of last year. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh joined up in Miami and Rose went out of his mind improving every aspect of his game to lift his team, and his teammates love it. Every time Rose is on the court his team believes they can win. No deficit is too large, no situation is too dire, and no team is too good for the Bulls to rise up and succeed. That mindset comes from the example Rose sets as a leader. Rose makes the Bulls, the city of Chicago, and every Bulls fan believe that no challenge is too great to be met.
2. His stats have improved. That isn’t always necessarily the most important since stats don’t tell the whole story, but as his game has gotten much better the Bulls have also gotten much better. Rose has made the case for Most Improved, and that level of improvement has propelled the Bulls to championship contenders. I’d say that makes him pretty valuable.
3. Rose leaves opposing fans and players, and even his teammates in awe. Look at the show he put on against the Knicks in the Garden the other night. Every dunk made even the Knicks fans pop. The Bulls play in other cities and fans will chant MVP for Rose. Players and coaches on other teams have been talking about what an animal Rose has been and how phenomenal his game is. His own teammates are consistently blown away. There’ve been at least 20 games where afterwards Carlos Boozer is freaking out about something Rose did. LeBron, Bosh, Juwan Howard, Doc Rivers, Kevin Durant, and countless other players and coaches have declared Rose to be the MVP this season. To stun your peers and get fans of other teams to freak out when you bust a move on their team is pretty special.
4. In the big games and big moments, you can count on him. When the game is on the line, you can put the ball in his hands. I was reading an article a week or two ago about how Rose’s shooting numbers in the last five minutes of the 4th quarter aren’t that impressive, but if you lower the time down to the last three minutes of the 4th then Rose is a beast. When the game is in the clutch moments, Derrick Rose has proven to be the most clutch player this year. He’s made big shot after big shot after big shot all season. The Lakers found out. So did Houston. Rose single handedly willed the Bulls into overtime against the Pacers with a massive 4th quarter surge. He’s put the team on his back and carrued them to victory in the big moments so many times. LeBron missed four straight game tying or winning shots in a row at one point in the season, but Rose has buried teams consistently. Rose has stepped his game up against Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, and dropped a career high 42 points on the then-league best San Antonio Spurs. In the games and moments you need him to play big in, he plays huge. That’s pretty valuable to me.
So with all that taken into consideration, how am I supposed to pick LeBron James because he has a better player efficiency rating? Or Dwight Howard, who gets suspended for getting too many technicals and costs his team? There’s only one MVP this season, and that is undoubtedly Derrick Rose.
That’s that. I probably won’t do playoff predictions since I don’t want to jinx teams I like, but I’ll write something on the playoffs at some point. Keep fighting.
NBA Playoff Predictions
Well, its about that time. The first round of the NBA Playoffs begins on Saturday and in my not so humble opinion, it should be one of the most interesting playoffs in recent memory. I think that the field is more wide open than it ever has been, and there is certainly no dearth of teams that could win the NBA title. With that being said, let’s get right into the first round predictions.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1.) San Antonio Spurs vs 8.) Memphis Grizzlies: Memphis purposely tanked the last few games of the season in order to avoid the Lakers and play the top seeded Spurs instead. A curious move to be sure, but it looks like it may have the potential to pay off. Manu Ginobili injured his elbow in the season finale, so he won’t be 100%. The Grizzlies will be without Rudy Gay, who got hurt earlier in the season. The Grizzlies should win their first playoff game in franchise history and will be a very game opponent. Game enough to be competitive, but not game enough to advance. It would serve San Antonio well to win this series as quickly as possible to rest for the winner of the Thunder/Nuggets series, but I think this is going to be a hard fought series. Spurs in 6.
2.) Los Angeles Lakers vs 7.) New Orleans Hornets: This is the biggest gimme of the first round, as the Hornets stand no chance of beating the Lakers four times. If they win more than one, I would be stunned. Without David West, New Orleans is basically a one man show run by Chris Paul. On another note, the Lakers have the easiest road to the Finals out West, as the Hornets are by far the weakest of the teams in the playoffs in the conference. Then, the Lakers avoid the Spurs/Thunder/Nuggets until the Conference Finals and would only play the Dallas/Portland winner in the second round. The Bulls (more on this later) are the only other team with such an advantageous position. Lakers in 5.
3.) Dallas Mavericks vs 6.) Portland TrailBlazers: I said it the other day and I’ll say it again - the Mavericks are done by round 2 at best. Dirk is the only one doing anything offensively, Terry is a midget, and Jason Kidd appears to be decomposing before my very eyes. Portland has the right combination of size and wing scoring to give Dallas fits. Every year, the Mavs are built for regular season success and flop in the playoffs. This year, unless LaMarcus Aldridge and Nic Batum spontaneously combust and Brandon Roy doesn’t give them anything at all, will be no different. I’m going with the upset and Blazers in 6.
4.) Oklahoma City Thunder vs 5.) Denver Nuggets: This is going to be the most exciting series of the first round by far. I could imagine either team winning this one. Denver has been on an absolute tear since trading Carmelo Anthony and OKC has one of the best young teams in the NBA and are the team I think most capable of beating the Lakers in a seven game series. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything since they have struggled with the Nuggets all season. I think, however that the combination of Durant and Westbrook on offense with Serge Ibaka’s ungodly defense and Kendrick Perkins being the intimidator will be too much over seven games. Thunder in 7.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1.) Chicago Bulls vs 8.) Indiana Pacers: It brings me intense joy to be writing the Bulls in as a number 1 seed. Chicago gets the Lakers treatment out East, where they have the easiest first round match and then avoid the Heat or Celtics until the Conference Finals. Danny Granger of the Pacers said this was the best match for Indiana. Granger must be nuts, as they lost three of four to the Bulls, while beating the Heat three times. Chicago is considerably better than Indiana and should make quick work of them. Bulls in 5.
2.) Miami Heat vs. 7.) Philadelphia 76ers: Before Lou Williams got hurt, Philly would have been the team that no one in the East wants to play in the first round. The Celtics purposely let themselves fall to three, presumably to avoid a tougher first round match with a 76ers squad that has played them close all season. That being said, Philadelphia has no chance against the Heat. LeBron is the king of the first round and has made a living off of beating inferior teams. I think Philly will play hard, but will ultimately be the victim of a sweep. Heat in 4.
3.) Boston Celtics vs. 6.) New York Knicks: As glad as it makes me to write Chicago in as the 1 seed, it hurts just as much to see the Knicks even in the playoffs. If you’re a Knick fan, this is the worst possible pairing for your team. The Heat or Bulls would have been a much more preferable match for New York, as the Bulls don’t close out well on the perimeter and the Heat are prone to getting involved in a long range shooting. Boston has no problem with bullying and playing tough on them. Amar’e thought the Spurs were dirty in the playoffs? Wait until he gets punched by Garnett. Even without Shaq or Perkins, Boston is tougher than they are. I do think the Knicks will win a couple of games, before it ends up being Celtics in 6.
4.) Orlando Magic vs 5.) Atlanta Hawks: I’m having a hard time picking this one. I don’t like either team and they have both been maddeningly inconsistent this season. Historically, the Magic have owned the Hawks, especially in the playoffs. This year however, the Hawks have won three of four against the Magic and have stymied Dwight Howard by using Jason Collins, of all people. Both teams are more than capable of losing badly in the first round, but could also make a run to the Conference Finals. Dwight Howard is the best pllayer in the series, and the most consistent to boot. Atlanta has the better overall team with Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Josh Smith but Horford is the only one to play with any consistency. Factoring all that in, I’m going to say Magic in 7, but it could really go either way.
For those of you keeping track, that means I’m predicting the second round to look like this:
WEST
1.) Spurs vs 4.) Thunder
2.) Lakers vs 6.) TrailBlazers
EAST
1.) Bulls vs 4.) Magic
2.) Heat vs 3.) Celtics
Feel free to opine in the comments section or on facebook with your predictions, or why mine are right on, or completely off base, or whatever.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1.) San Antonio Spurs vs 8.) Memphis Grizzlies: Memphis purposely tanked the last few games of the season in order to avoid the Lakers and play the top seeded Spurs instead. A curious move to be sure, but it looks like it may have the potential to pay off. Manu Ginobili injured his elbow in the season finale, so he won’t be 100%. The Grizzlies will be without Rudy Gay, who got hurt earlier in the season. The Grizzlies should win their first playoff game in franchise history and will be a very game opponent. Game enough to be competitive, but not game enough to advance. It would serve San Antonio well to win this series as quickly as possible to rest for the winner of the Thunder/Nuggets series, but I think this is going to be a hard fought series. Spurs in 6.
2.) Los Angeles Lakers vs 7.) New Orleans Hornets: This is the biggest gimme of the first round, as the Hornets stand no chance of beating the Lakers four times. If they win more than one, I would be stunned. Without David West, New Orleans is basically a one man show run by Chris Paul. On another note, the Lakers have the easiest road to the Finals out West, as the Hornets are by far the weakest of the teams in the playoffs in the conference. Then, the Lakers avoid the Spurs/Thunder/Nuggets until the Conference Finals and would only play the Dallas/Portland winner in the second round. The Bulls (more on this later) are the only other team with such an advantageous position. Lakers in 5.
3.) Dallas Mavericks vs 6.) Portland TrailBlazers: I said it the other day and I’ll say it again - the Mavericks are done by round 2 at best. Dirk is the only one doing anything offensively, Terry is a midget, and Jason Kidd appears to be decomposing before my very eyes. Portland has the right combination of size and wing scoring to give Dallas fits. Every year, the Mavs are built for regular season success and flop in the playoffs. This year, unless LaMarcus Aldridge and Nic Batum spontaneously combust and Brandon Roy doesn’t give them anything at all, will be no different. I’m going with the upset and Blazers in 6.
4.) Oklahoma City Thunder vs 5.) Denver Nuggets: This is going to be the most exciting series of the first round by far. I could imagine either team winning this one. Denver has been on an absolute tear since trading Carmelo Anthony and OKC has one of the best young teams in the NBA and are the team I think most capable of beating the Lakers in a seven game series. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything since they have struggled with the Nuggets all season. I think, however that the combination of Durant and Westbrook on offense with Serge Ibaka’s ungodly defense and Kendrick Perkins being the intimidator will be too much over seven games. Thunder in 7.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1.) Chicago Bulls vs 8.) Indiana Pacers: It brings me intense joy to be writing the Bulls in as a number 1 seed. Chicago gets the Lakers treatment out East, where they have the easiest first round match and then avoid the Heat or Celtics until the Conference Finals. Danny Granger of the Pacers said this was the best match for Indiana. Granger must be nuts, as they lost three of four to the Bulls, while beating the Heat three times. Chicago is considerably better than Indiana and should make quick work of them. Bulls in 5.
2.) Miami Heat vs. 7.) Philadelphia 76ers: Before Lou Williams got hurt, Philly would have been the team that no one in the East wants to play in the first round. The Celtics purposely let themselves fall to three, presumably to avoid a tougher first round match with a 76ers squad that has played them close all season. That being said, Philadelphia has no chance against the Heat. LeBron is the king of the first round and has made a living off of beating inferior teams. I think Philly will play hard, but will ultimately be the victim of a sweep. Heat in 4.
3.) Boston Celtics vs. 6.) New York Knicks: As glad as it makes me to write Chicago in as the 1 seed, it hurts just as much to see the Knicks even in the playoffs. If you’re a Knick fan, this is the worst possible pairing for your team. The Heat or Bulls would have been a much more preferable match for New York, as the Bulls don’t close out well on the perimeter and the Heat are prone to getting involved in a long range shooting. Boston has no problem with bullying and playing tough on them. Amar’e thought the Spurs were dirty in the playoffs? Wait until he gets punched by Garnett. Even without Shaq or Perkins, Boston is tougher than they are. I do think the Knicks will win a couple of games, before it ends up being Celtics in 6.
4.) Orlando Magic vs 5.) Atlanta Hawks: I’m having a hard time picking this one. I don’t like either team and they have both been maddeningly inconsistent this season. Historically, the Magic have owned the Hawks, especially in the playoffs. This year however, the Hawks have won three of four against the Magic and have stymied Dwight Howard by using Jason Collins, of all people. Both teams are more than capable of losing badly in the first round, but could also make a run to the Conference Finals. Dwight Howard is the best pllayer in the series, and the most consistent to boot. Atlanta has the better overall team with Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Josh Smith but Horford is the only one to play with any consistency. Factoring all that in, I’m going to say Magic in 7, but it could really go either way.
For those of you keeping track, that means I’m predicting the second round to look like this:
WEST
1.) Spurs vs 4.) Thunder
2.) Lakers vs 6.) TrailBlazers
EAST
1.) Bulls vs 4.) Magic
2.) Heat vs 3.) Celtics
Feel free to opine in the comments section or on facebook with your predictions, or why mine are right on, or completely off base, or whatever.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
NBA Regular Season Awards, As Selected By Me
As of yesterday, the NBA regular season has officially come to a close. With that comes two things: the playoffs and the handing out of awards. I’m going to post a playoff preview with my picks for the first round sometime in the next 24 hours, so this post is going to be dedicated solely to the regular season awards. Let’s get right into it.
Comeback Player of the Year: Elton Brand, Philadelphia 76ers - Just a few seasons ago, Brand was a 20-10 machine and one of the best power forwards in the NBA. Then, injuries and poor play the last couple of years made Brand an afterthought and highly overpaid. He seems to have bounced back from last year’s 13 and 6 to a solid 15 and 8 while helping to lead the upstart 76ers to a surprise seventh seed in the East. He is once again relevant as a player and deserves some kind of recognition for coming back from the dead and contributing to playoff basketball in Philly.
Most Improved Player: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers - Kevin Love is most likely going to win this award due to the fact he was a double double machine this season, but when you get down to it his improvement seems natural given the facts that A) He is only in his third season, so he should continue to improve, B) His production was in line per minute with his stats previously; he just received adequate minutes this year, and C) Plays for Minnesota and someone there has to score and rebound for them. Aldridge is in his fifth season and has shown a marked improvement in two areas in which he was lacking in his prior four seasons: rebounding and interior scoring. He averaged four points more than his career PPG and one more rebound per game. He also doubled his career average by getting 1.2 blocks per game. Plus, he played nearly every game and carried an injury depleted Trailblazers squad to a sixth seed in the Western Conference. He got snubbed for the All-Star Team and is going to miss out on an All-NBA Team appearance, so the least he could get is the MIP Trophy.
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers - Was this one even in doubt? Blake has easily been the best first year player in the NBA this season, averaging a beastly 22.5 and 12.1 a game. Blake Superior has probably been one of the five best players at the power forward position all year and has made the Los Angeles Clippers something other than a joke for ESPN to report on. To boot, Blake has probably been one of the three most exciting players to watch this year. I can’t wait until he leaves the Clips in a few years and goes to a real team.
Sixth Man of the Year: Glen Davis, Boston Celtics - Odds are Jason Terry or Lamar Odom wins this award, but I think Davis deserves it more despite having less impressive stats. Odom started nearly half the games this season, making him ineligible in my book. Jason Terry has played well, but all he really does is score (mostly just in the fourth quarter since someone other than Dirk has to shoot it from time to time). Davis has had a career year and does all the little things that don’t show up in the stats. He relieves both Garnett and whatever the Celtics throw up at center, plays most of the fourth quarter, hits clutch shots, hustles harder than any man in the league, and led the NBA in charges taken. He does all this while being drastically outsized in the height department. If you take Odom and Terry off of their respective teams, both the Lakers and Mavericks still make the playoffs. I don’t know that the Celtics do without Davis.
Coach of the Year: George Karl, Denver Nuggets - I was torn on this one between three men: Doug Collins in Philadelphia, Tom Thibodeau in Chicago, and Karl. It was really a toss-up between those three, and even Popovich in San Antonio is a deserving candidate. If any of those four men won this honor, I wouldn’t be surprised or upset. In the end, I went with Karl. He kept the Nuggets in the playoff race while all the drama swirled around Carmelo Anthony, and he has them playing even better without ‘Melo. Since the All-Star break, Denver has had one of the best records in the NBA and has been one of the most fun teams to watch. They have the potential to give several of the teams in the West a good scare in the playoffs. All this after missing most of last year with cancer. That being said, I had a really hard time not going with Collins or Thibs. I didn’t think Collins had what it took to coach anymore, but he has a starless Philadelphia playing much better than anyone expected. If not for the Lou Williams injury, they could have played spoiler to Miami or Boston. And Thibs has remade Chicago into a defensive juggernaut and managed to get the Bulls to the best record in the NBA despite Boozer and Noah missing significant amounts of time. In the end, I went with Karl because of his success despite the aforementioned drama and cancer.
Defensive Player of the Year: Grant Hill, Phoenix Suns - Dwight Howard is going to win this easily for the third straight season and it isn’t entirely undeserved. He is the only player to defend on an Orlando squad that can’t play a lick of D. But, Howard is still interested in stats and highlight reel blocks more than winning defense. He doesn’t have to swat the ball into the twentieth row. He could just block it to one of his teammates and start a fast break. This play was essentially Bill Russell’s entire career. I instead chose to give my nod for this award to Grant Hill, who has been the best individual defender in the NBA this year even though that stats don’t show it. Hill is about 130 years old, but night in and night out has taken it upon himself to guard the opposing team’s best player without regards to size and age. He’s matched up against everyone from Derrick Rose to Blake Griffin and has performed admirably. And he does this on a Phoenix team that plays even less defense than the rest of Orlando. Hill has had a late career renaissance and this commitment to defense has been very impressive.
Most Valuable Player: Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls - I touched on this the other day, but Rose is absolutely the MVP of this season. He has done everything he said he would, from improving his shooting range and committing to playing tougher defense. His advanced stats don’t make him look as impressive as LeBron or Howard, but Rose is the only guy on his team that can create his own shot. Of course LeBron would be more efficient; he plays next to two other All-Stars, making his life a lot easier. Howard is a center and if you’re his size, there is a problem if you are not efficient. Rose has been the best fourth quarter player this season and has pushed the Bulls to the best record in the NBA. He’s been a leader and kept the Bulls going, thriving even, while Boozer and Noah missed significant chunks of time. Rose has taken it upon himself time and again this season to make sure the Bulls don’t lose and constantly puts the pressure on himself to make them better every game. I don’t think you can honestly say that about LeBron or Howard. Plus, he averages 25 and 8 every night so its not like he isn’t putting up great numbers.
Stay tuned for playoff predictions in the near future.
Comeback Player of the Year: Elton Brand, Philadelphia 76ers - Just a few seasons ago, Brand was a 20-10 machine and one of the best power forwards in the NBA. Then, injuries and poor play the last couple of years made Brand an afterthought and highly overpaid. He seems to have bounced back from last year’s 13 and 6 to a solid 15 and 8 while helping to lead the upstart 76ers to a surprise seventh seed in the East. He is once again relevant as a player and deserves some kind of recognition for coming back from the dead and contributing to playoff basketball in Philly.
Most Improved Player: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers - Kevin Love is most likely going to win this award due to the fact he was a double double machine this season, but when you get down to it his improvement seems natural given the facts that A) He is only in his third season, so he should continue to improve, B) His production was in line per minute with his stats previously; he just received adequate minutes this year, and C) Plays for Minnesota and someone there has to score and rebound for them. Aldridge is in his fifth season and has shown a marked improvement in two areas in which he was lacking in his prior four seasons: rebounding and interior scoring. He averaged four points more than his career PPG and one more rebound per game. He also doubled his career average by getting 1.2 blocks per game. Plus, he played nearly every game and carried an injury depleted Trailblazers squad to a sixth seed in the Western Conference. He got snubbed for the All-Star Team and is going to miss out on an All-NBA Team appearance, so the least he could get is the MIP Trophy.
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers - Was this one even in doubt? Blake has easily been the best first year player in the NBA this season, averaging a beastly 22.5 and 12.1 a game. Blake Superior has probably been one of the five best players at the power forward position all year and has made the Los Angeles Clippers something other than a joke for ESPN to report on. To boot, Blake has probably been one of the three most exciting players to watch this year. I can’t wait until he leaves the Clips in a few years and goes to a real team.
Sixth Man of the Year: Glen Davis, Boston Celtics - Odds are Jason Terry or Lamar Odom wins this award, but I think Davis deserves it more despite having less impressive stats. Odom started nearly half the games this season, making him ineligible in my book. Jason Terry has played well, but all he really does is score (mostly just in the fourth quarter since someone other than Dirk has to shoot it from time to time). Davis has had a career year and does all the little things that don’t show up in the stats. He relieves both Garnett and whatever the Celtics throw up at center, plays most of the fourth quarter, hits clutch shots, hustles harder than any man in the league, and led the NBA in charges taken. He does all this while being drastically outsized in the height department. If you take Odom and Terry off of their respective teams, both the Lakers and Mavericks still make the playoffs. I don’t know that the Celtics do without Davis.
Coach of the Year: George Karl, Denver Nuggets - I was torn on this one between three men: Doug Collins in Philadelphia, Tom Thibodeau in Chicago, and Karl. It was really a toss-up between those three, and even Popovich in San Antonio is a deserving candidate. If any of those four men won this honor, I wouldn’t be surprised or upset. In the end, I went with Karl. He kept the Nuggets in the playoff race while all the drama swirled around Carmelo Anthony, and he has them playing even better without ‘Melo. Since the All-Star break, Denver has had one of the best records in the NBA and has been one of the most fun teams to watch. They have the potential to give several of the teams in the West a good scare in the playoffs. All this after missing most of last year with cancer. That being said, I had a really hard time not going with Collins or Thibs. I didn’t think Collins had what it took to coach anymore, but he has a starless Philadelphia playing much better than anyone expected. If not for the Lou Williams injury, they could have played spoiler to Miami or Boston. And Thibs has remade Chicago into a defensive juggernaut and managed to get the Bulls to the best record in the NBA despite Boozer and Noah missing significant amounts of time. In the end, I went with Karl because of his success despite the aforementioned drama and cancer.
Defensive Player of the Year: Grant Hill, Phoenix Suns - Dwight Howard is going to win this easily for the third straight season and it isn’t entirely undeserved. He is the only player to defend on an Orlando squad that can’t play a lick of D. But, Howard is still interested in stats and highlight reel blocks more than winning defense. He doesn’t have to swat the ball into the twentieth row. He could just block it to one of his teammates and start a fast break. This play was essentially Bill Russell’s entire career. I instead chose to give my nod for this award to Grant Hill, who has been the best individual defender in the NBA this year even though that stats don’t show it. Hill is about 130 years old, but night in and night out has taken it upon himself to guard the opposing team’s best player without regards to size and age. He’s matched up against everyone from Derrick Rose to Blake Griffin and has performed admirably. And he does this on a Phoenix team that plays even less defense than the rest of Orlando. Hill has had a late career renaissance and this commitment to defense has been very impressive.
Most Valuable Player: Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls - I touched on this the other day, but Rose is absolutely the MVP of this season. He has done everything he said he would, from improving his shooting range and committing to playing tougher defense. His advanced stats don’t make him look as impressive as LeBron or Howard, but Rose is the only guy on his team that can create his own shot. Of course LeBron would be more efficient; he plays next to two other All-Stars, making his life a lot easier. Howard is a center and if you’re his size, there is a problem if you are not efficient. Rose has been the best fourth quarter player this season and has pushed the Bulls to the best record in the NBA. He’s been a leader and kept the Bulls going, thriving even, while Boozer and Noah missed significant chunks of time. Rose has taken it upon himself time and again this season to make sure the Bulls don’t lose and constantly puts the pressure on himself to make them better every game. I don’t think you can honestly say that about LeBron or Howard. Plus, he averages 25 and 8 every night so its not like he isn’t putting up great numbers.
Stay tuned for playoff predictions in the near future.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Odds and Sods
Strikeforce ran their first major show since their acquisition by Zuffa a few months ago. In the main event, Nick Diaz and Paul Daley had a pretty exciting fight that ended with a Diaz TKO victory. After this, there really is no one left for Strikeforce to match their welterweight champ Diaz up against. I think its time to bring him back into the UFC and unify the two titles by matching him up with Georges St. Pierre. This especially makes sense considering that it doesn’t appear as if the GSP-Silva superfight will happen. Of course, this is all contingent on GSP beating Jake Shields this month. If Shields wins, the odds are against him fighting close friend and training partner Diaz.
The NBA regular season is drawing to a close and there is a rather contentious debate over who the MVP should be. Derrick Rose is considered the frontrunner, but stat hounds act like anything other than a victory for LeBron James or Dwight Howard would be an egregious wrong. I’ll get into this more later when I do my awards picks, but anything other than a D Rose victory is a bit absurd. He led the team to the best record in the East (and 2nd best in the NBA), doesn’t have a superstar like D Wade playing next to him and isn’t a liability in the clutch or getting suspended all the time like Howard. I know I’m partial because I would be willing to take a bullet if it meant the Bulls would win the title, but Rose deserves the award. Have you seen the Bulls try to score without Rose on the floor, or even try to dribble the ball? It isn’t pretty.
According to his mentor and trainer Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Anderson Silva will be defending his middleweight title in August at the UFC show in Brazil against Yushin Okami. Okami was the last man to beat Silva, back in 2006 via a controversial disqualification. This would seem to point to a fight with GSP not happening at all, especially when combined with this other tidbit from Big Nog: After the Okami fight, Anderson will be moving up to 205 lbs. permanently. This would presumably set up a match between Anderson and the winner of the match between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans for early next year. That means Anderson will be doing battle with Bones Jones early next year. As a fight fan, this excites me. As a Silva fan, this terrifies me. Both men legitimately have what it takes to decisively beat the other, and with Silva being considerably older and Jones having a massive size advantage, this fight could mean either the end of Anderson’s undefeated streak or another notch in his resume as the greatest fighter of all time.
And in the occasional pro wrestling story, my brother tells me that WWE Superstar Edge has announced his retirement due to a reaggravation of the neck injury he suffered back in 2003. The internet sites are reporting that this is a legitimate retirement and not a work. If this is true, it marks the end of another Attitude era star and one of the few established names remaining on their talent roster. He had a nice run near the top of the company over the past six years as a heel. One of my favorite moments in WWE history came from Edge. In 2005, my roommate and I went to the live taping of the pay per view New Year’s Revolution. At the end of the show, after John Cena had retained the WWE title to the chagrin of the Albany fans, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot and beat John Cena for his first world title victory. The fans went nuts, Edge went nuts, my roommate and I went nuts. It was pretty wild, and preserved on DVD forever if you don’t believe me about my celebration.
In the final bit of news, it appears Strikeforce is going to air a live pay per view event this summer and its main event will apparently be Dan Henderson vs Fedor Emelianenko. Originally, the talk was that this was going to be for Henderson’s light heavyweight title, but it is looking more like it will be fought at a 220 lb. catchweight. If this is so, this fight puts Hendo at a major disadvantage. He is small for 205, as evidenced by the fact that he is also capable of fighting at 185. Fedor is a small heavyweight, coming in around 225-230 lbs and he is doughy at that weight. Only having to cut ten pounds while Hendo has to try to gain near fifteen is unfair. I think a 215 catchweight makes more sense for both men. Fedor still would have a size advantage, but I don’t think it would be as glaring at that weight, plus it better situates him for a run at light heavyweight if he wins this fight. For Henderson, he wouldn’t have to bulk up as much so he wouldn’t be in the same position as his fight against Big Nog in Pride where he gave up around thirty pounds and lost.
That does it for this installment of Odds and Sods. Check back for posts previewing the NBA Playoffs and Awards, the tribute to Pride, and predictions for this month’s UFC pay per view.
The NBA regular season is drawing to a close and there is a rather contentious debate over who the MVP should be. Derrick Rose is considered the frontrunner, but stat hounds act like anything other than a victory for LeBron James or Dwight Howard would be an egregious wrong. I’ll get into this more later when I do my awards picks, but anything other than a D Rose victory is a bit absurd. He led the team to the best record in the East (and 2nd best in the NBA), doesn’t have a superstar like D Wade playing next to him and isn’t a liability in the clutch or getting suspended all the time like Howard. I know I’m partial because I would be willing to take a bullet if it meant the Bulls would win the title, but Rose deserves the award. Have you seen the Bulls try to score without Rose on the floor, or even try to dribble the ball? It isn’t pretty.
According to his mentor and trainer Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Anderson Silva will be defending his middleweight title in August at the UFC show in Brazil against Yushin Okami. Okami was the last man to beat Silva, back in 2006 via a controversial disqualification. This would seem to point to a fight with GSP not happening at all, especially when combined with this other tidbit from Big Nog: After the Okami fight, Anderson will be moving up to 205 lbs. permanently. This would presumably set up a match between Anderson and the winner of the match between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans for early next year. That means Anderson will be doing battle with Bones Jones early next year. As a fight fan, this excites me. As a Silva fan, this terrifies me. Both men legitimately have what it takes to decisively beat the other, and with Silva being considerably older and Jones having a massive size advantage, this fight could mean either the end of Anderson’s undefeated streak or another notch in his resume as the greatest fighter of all time.
And in the occasional pro wrestling story, my brother tells me that WWE Superstar Edge has announced his retirement due to a reaggravation of the neck injury he suffered back in 2003. The internet sites are reporting that this is a legitimate retirement and not a work. If this is true, it marks the end of another Attitude era star and one of the few established names remaining on their talent roster. He had a nice run near the top of the company over the past six years as a heel. One of my favorite moments in WWE history came from Edge. In 2005, my roommate and I went to the live taping of the pay per view New Year’s Revolution. At the end of the show, after John Cena had retained the WWE title to the chagrin of the Albany fans, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot and beat John Cena for his first world title victory. The fans went nuts, Edge went nuts, my roommate and I went nuts. It was pretty wild, and preserved on DVD forever if you don’t believe me about my celebration.
In the final bit of news, it appears Strikeforce is going to air a live pay per view event this summer and its main event will apparently be Dan Henderson vs Fedor Emelianenko. Originally, the talk was that this was going to be for Henderson’s light heavyweight title, but it is looking more like it will be fought at a 220 lb. catchweight. If this is so, this fight puts Hendo at a major disadvantage. He is small for 205, as evidenced by the fact that he is also capable of fighting at 185. Fedor is a small heavyweight, coming in around 225-230 lbs and he is doughy at that weight. Only having to cut ten pounds while Hendo has to try to gain near fifteen is unfair. I think a 215 catchweight makes more sense for both men. Fedor still would have a size advantage, but I don’t think it would be as glaring at that weight, plus it better situates him for a run at light heavyweight if he wins this fight. For Henderson, he wouldn’t have to bulk up as much so he wouldn’t be in the same position as his fight against Big Nog in Pride where he gave up around thirty pounds and lost.
That does it for this installment of Odds and Sods. Check back for posts previewing the NBA Playoffs and Awards, the tribute to Pride, and predictions for this month’s UFC pay per view.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Three Up, Three in the Middle, Three Down
Time for the second, and final installment of Three Up... of the regular season. Let’s get right into it.
Three Up
Chicago Bulls: The Bulls are still rolling and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They have been the team to beat since the All-Star break and have played the most consistent basketball the past few months. At this point if Derrick Rose doesn’t win the MVP, it’ll be a robbery. All the Bulls need now is for Noah’s ankle to heal up and be ready for the playoffs.
Oklahoma City Thunder: The Thunder have won eight of their last ten, and could be poised to make a nice run in the playoffs. The addition of Perkins has given them some much needed low post toughness and helped them to beat their likely first round opponent and team that just missed out on the three up this week in the Denver Nuggets. Denver has been surging since the ‘Melo deal and that win is a big one for OKC. If they can pass Dallas for the three seed, the Thunder have a good shot at a run to the conference finals.
New Orleans Hornets: I was going to pick Denver or Memphis here, but the Hornets deserve some props. Their second best player in David West went down with a torn ACL, but the Hornets have scrapped their way to a 7-3 mark over their past ten games in a tough bottom half of the Western Conference. Despite the injury and an up and down season, the Hornets have managed to hang tough. That deserves some props, even if it means they are just going to get mauled by the Lakers or Spurs in the first round.
Three in the Middle
New York Knicks: The Knicks have managed to recover from losing four straight by reeling off seven wins in a row. They still don’t have much depth, but it appears as if the team is starting to mesh a little better than it was a few weeks ago. It looks like they’ll end up against Miami (so long as Boston doesn’t continue their freefall) in the first round and that could be a competitive series.
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers would have been in the three up, but they have gone from looking like worldbeaters again to losing five in a row, including ones to possible playoff opponents Portland and OKC. Of course, none of this matters once the playoffs start, but it has to be disconcerting to not be playing your best ball at this point of the year.
San Antonio Spurs: They almost made the three down part, but have recovered from their swoon now that Tim Duncan is back from injury. They managed to clinch the one seed in the West, but part of that is due to the Lakers suddenly falling apart. Unfortunately, I don’t know that the Spurs can make it very far. Memphis would be a tough first round matchup, but they could squash the Hornets. In the second round, the Thunder could bounce them, but they could beat Dallas or Denver. If the Lakers lose early, the Spurs could make a run to the Finals.
Three Down
Dallas Mavericks: Dallas is done. Dirk is the only one playing well right now, and there is no solid second option. To boot, Chandler is playing hurt and Jason Kidd is pretty much done. If the Hornets somehow make it to the six seed, Dallas could earn their way to a second round exit courtesy of the Lakers. Otherwise, its going to be another first round bow-out for Dallas at the hands of Portland or Denver.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Minny are losers of twelve straight and are tied with the Cavs for worst record in the NBA. They aren’t even competitive at this point, unlike the beginning of the year where they at least played teams close. Rambis is an abyssmal coach, clinging to the Triangle Offense despite the fact the personnel needed to run it is not present. They are terrible, to the point where they might end up with an even worse record than Cleveland and that’s saying something.
Boston Celtics: What the hell is going on in Boston? They are getting trounced by everyone now and it appears that they have lost all that swagger they had heading into the season. Rondo has played poorly, the rest of the team has been inconsistent, Shaq has been MIA, and the chemistry has hit an all-time low since the Perkins trade. Since February, they’ve fallen from one to three in the East and it looks like it isn’t even a matter of biding their time and staying healthy until the playoffs. Of course, as with the Lakers, once the playoffs start anything could happen.
Three Up
Chicago Bulls: The Bulls are still rolling and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They have been the team to beat since the All-Star break and have played the most consistent basketball the past few months. At this point if Derrick Rose doesn’t win the MVP, it’ll be a robbery. All the Bulls need now is for Noah’s ankle to heal up and be ready for the playoffs.
Oklahoma City Thunder: The Thunder have won eight of their last ten, and could be poised to make a nice run in the playoffs. The addition of Perkins has given them some much needed low post toughness and helped them to beat their likely first round opponent and team that just missed out on the three up this week in the Denver Nuggets. Denver has been surging since the ‘Melo deal and that win is a big one for OKC. If they can pass Dallas for the three seed, the Thunder have a good shot at a run to the conference finals.
New Orleans Hornets: I was going to pick Denver or Memphis here, but the Hornets deserve some props. Their second best player in David West went down with a torn ACL, but the Hornets have scrapped their way to a 7-3 mark over their past ten games in a tough bottom half of the Western Conference. Despite the injury and an up and down season, the Hornets have managed to hang tough. That deserves some props, even if it means they are just going to get mauled by the Lakers or Spurs in the first round.
Three in the Middle
New York Knicks: The Knicks have managed to recover from losing four straight by reeling off seven wins in a row. They still don’t have much depth, but it appears as if the team is starting to mesh a little better than it was a few weeks ago. It looks like they’ll end up against Miami (so long as Boston doesn’t continue their freefall) in the first round and that could be a competitive series.
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers would have been in the three up, but they have gone from looking like worldbeaters again to losing five in a row, including ones to possible playoff opponents Portland and OKC. Of course, none of this matters once the playoffs start, but it has to be disconcerting to not be playing your best ball at this point of the year.
San Antonio Spurs: They almost made the three down part, but have recovered from their swoon now that Tim Duncan is back from injury. They managed to clinch the one seed in the West, but part of that is due to the Lakers suddenly falling apart. Unfortunately, I don’t know that the Spurs can make it very far. Memphis would be a tough first round matchup, but they could squash the Hornets. In the second round, the Thunder could bounce them, but they could beat Dallas or Denver. If the Lakers lose early, the Spurs could make a run to the Finals.
Three Down
Dallas Mavericks: Dallas is done. Dirk is the only one playing well right now, and there is no solid second option. To boot, Chandler is playing hurt and Jason Kidd is pretty much done. If the Hornets somehow make it to the six seed, Dallas could earn their way to a second round exit courtesy of the Lakers. Otherwise, its going to be another first round bow-out for Dallas at the hands of Portland or Denver.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Minny are losers of twelve straight and are tied with the Cavs for worst record in the NBA. They aren’t even competitive at this point, unlike the beginning of the year where they at least played teams close. Rambis is an abyssmal coach, clinging to the Triangle Offense despite the fact the personnel needed to run it is not present. They are terrible, to the point where they might end up with an even worse record than Cleveland and that’s saying something.
Boston Celtics: What the hell is going on in Boston? They are getting trounced by everyone now and it appears that they have lost all that swagger they had heading into the season. Rondo has played poorly, the rest of the team has been inconsistent, Shaq has been MIA, and the chemistry has hit an all-time low since the Perkins trade. Since February, they’ve fallen from one to three in the East and it looks like it isn’t even a matter of biding their time and staying healthy until the playoffs. Of course, as with the Lakers, once the playoffs start anything could happen.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Review: UFC Best of 2010, Disc 1
This is yet another new feature here, a DVD review. The item up today is the new release UFC Best of 2010. I'm not going to focus on the specs or anything like that, just a review and recap of the fights and segments on the disc. The fight reviews aren't going to be blow by blow recreations, but my general opinion of what's going on and how I thought each round went. I'm going to be more blatantly subjective about the fights and fighters than I normally would be. For the purpose of this DVD, I'll also state whether or not I believe the fight was worthy of inclusion on the Best of list. So, in the words of Mike Goldberg, "Here we go..."
The DVD begins with an unknown voice welcoming us to the DVD and telling the viewer about the rise and fall of fighters and the transcendent power and thrill of competition set to a montage of footage from throughout the year. After this, it leads into some of the overall highlights of the year, from new markets for shows to the top fighters of the year.
The next topic: Frankie Edgar's rise to the top of the lightweight title at the expense of longtime champ and 155 lb. legend BJ Penn. This sets up a highlight package for Penn-Edgar 1. Luckily they don't show this whole fight as it would only serve to infuriate me. Edgar won a unanimous decision victory based mainly on the fact that he looked busier, but the truth is that it was at best an even fight that I thought could have went either way. This is followed up with highlights from Penn-Edgar 2, a clear decision win for Edgar. I still don't get how BJ blew both of these fights so badly. Prior to these fights, he hadn't lost at lightweight in eight years and had looked more dominant than ever, but Frankie Edgar beats him twice?
The narrator then goes over Edgar's new foe: Gray Maynard. Brief clips of his split decision win over Nate Diaz and his boring decision win over Kenny Florian follow.
After about twelve minutes, we get our first fight of the DVD: Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk from September's UFC 119.
Round 1: Disclosure - I hate Sean Sherk and his baby T Rex arms and the fact he tested positive for roids a few years back. I've never seen Dunham fight before this DVD. Sherk holds an advantage through most of the first round with some takedowns and minor ground and pound from the guard position. With about a minute and a half left, Dunham throws a pretty swank choke on Sherk, who eventually reverses position into open guard, where he lands a nasty elbow that busts Dunham open badly above the eyebrow. First round is 10-9 Sherk in my book.
Round 2: As the round begins, Dunham's cut is still bleeding. Sherk spends a solid 30 seconds working on a takedown that Dunham turns into a guillotine. Sherk escapes, then spends another minute and a half shooting for a takedown that leads to nothing. Dunham looks for a guillotine the whole time. Rogan and Goldberg make the point that Sherk may win this round just because Dunham is bleeding a ton, like that's a sign of effectiveness. The last minute and a half or so consists of some kickboxing that Dunham clearly gets the better of, landing a few kicks and like three knees to Sherk's mug. 10-9 Dunham, as he landed most of the significant offense, stuffed Sherk's takedowns, and had a few submission attempts that nearly worked.
Round 3: This round would determine the winner for me. Dunham drops Sherk early with a head kick, but Sherk recovers and pushes Dunham against the cage for an eternity, looking for a takedown that only happens for a second before Dunham gets back to his feet. Basically two minutes of the round consisted of Sherk's takedowns getting stuffed. They stand and trade for a bit, where Dunham lands a lot more than Sherk, who responds by whiffing on uppercuts since he has the reach of a twelve year old and then pushing Dunham into the cage for a takedown. They trade some more and Dunham gets him against the cage with some nasty kicks and knees to the mug. Another 10-9 round for Dunham. That makes it 29-28 Dunham to me. Pretty good fight, I must say. The judges give it to Sherk by split decision. Wow, Dunham got robbed.
The DVD then goes into another lightweight fight, this one from UFC 110 between George "G-Sots" Sotiropoulos and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson.
Round 1: I saw this one live when it happened and remember it being pretty good. Sotiropoulos gets a bit of lee way with his trunks, wearing knee pads and ankle wraps underneath that in essence give him pants (which are illegal). I do not approve. G-Sots gets an early takedown and works to pass Joe Daddy's guard, but Stevenson stops his progress. That is literally all that happens for about sixty percent of this round. G-Sots eventually lands some punches from up top, but receives a vicious upkick to the grill for his trouble. Joe Daddy almost gets him in an arm triangle, but Sotiropoulous ends up in the mount and lands some ground and pound and nearly gets Stevenson in an armbar to end the round. 10-9 G-Sots.
Round 2: G-Sots gets some good shots in while they box and Rogan claims that Stevenson is in trouble. I like Rogan, but he acts like any flush blow puts a dude on queer street. Stevenson was just losing in the stand up, he was at no risk of being knocked out. They end up on the ground, where Sotiropoulos goes for a several submissions, none of which land. His ability to transition and attempt different submissions is very impressive. The round ends with Stevenson being caught in an anaconda choke. The grappling in this fight has been very impressive. Closer round, but still clearly 10-9 for G-Sots.
Round 3: Goldberg makes sure to tell the viewer that G-Sots loved Bruce Lee movies as a kid, like it is relevant to the action going on. Rogan jumps in and explains the grappling going on and why Sotiropoulos is so good at it. Goldberg says Stevenson "needs to unleash." Rogan goes back to doing the play by play and color commentary. My recap of this round hasn't been too detailed, but it has mostly been a lot of ground transitions and both men looking for submissions. Stevenson has landed a couple takedowns, but gets tied up and can't get the finish he would need to win. The round could have gone either way, but I'll give it to Stevenson and make it 10-9 for him, and 29-28 Sotiropoulos overall. The judges score it 30-27 for Sotriropoulos.
After G-Sots, a montage of clips for lightweight Jim Miller follow. He won all four of his fights in 2010 and also positioned himself as contender for the 155 lb. belt. Melvin Guillard is the next lightweight to receive a montage, as the narrator discusses the Young Assassin's newfound maturity both in and out of the cage. He won all three of his fights last year and is another potential contender. The last WEC Lightweight Champion, Anthony Pettis, is the last lightweight to earn a montage headlined by his "Showtime kick" on Ben Henderson.
This segues into a bit on the addition of the WEC into the UFC. A highlight reel of my boy Jose Aldo annihilating everything in sight follows, as well as highlights of several of the other exciting bantam and featherweights.
Georges St. Pierre is the star of the next segment. Going into 2010, GSP had won twenty straight rounds. He fought twice last year. His first fight was against Dan Hardy and it was a five round exposition of positional control by GSP. To be fair, he did try several submissions that would normally have ended another fighter's night, but Hardy is tough as hell. The thing that bothers me about GSP is that he sticks so heavily to his gameplan. He was all over Hardy and could have just pounded his head in, but he was so focused on submissions and not taking chances that the clearly overwhelmed Hardy was allowed to survive. His next fight was against Josh Koscheck, where he dominated again for another five rounds. He put on a boxing clinic and broke Kos' orbital in the first round. It really should have been stopped, but instead it was allowed to continue.
Matt Hughes was the 2010 inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame. They run down his resume, which includes his awesome submission win against Frank Trigg, so that's cool. This leads into Hughes-Penn 3 from UFC 123. This should be a short review.
Round 1: I saw this one live as well, and it was exciting while it lasted. Both men start to trade and BJ levels Hughes back into Iowa in about twenty seconds. That pretty much settled their rivalry. BJ is wicked pumped after the fight, in true BJ Penn fashion. When the doctors check out Matt, you can see him ask "What happened?" As a huge BJ fan, this almost made the two losses to Edgar worth it since it led to this massacre.
The focus on welterweights continues with Carlos Condit, the former WEC Welterweight Champ. This leads to UFC 115's Condit vs. Rory MacDonald.
Round 1: This is the first time I've ever seen this fight. These two dudes are just going at it in this round and seem to be pretty evenly matched in the stand-up. MacDonald probably gets a slight advantage because he blocked a couple of kicks and turned them into some takedowns. Neither man was really dominant and there wasn't a lot to say about it. I'll go 10-9 MacDonald, but it was really close.
Round 2: MacDonald and Condit continue to trade blows and both men land some takedowns on each other. On Condit's, MacDonald gets a nice reversal and ends up in the guard. Rogan is yammering about how MacDonald has dominated this fight and dictated where it takes place and is clearly winning, but I feel like it's still pretty even. MacDonald lands some nice strikes and Rogan goes nuts, but stays silent when Condit lands a knee square in MacDonald's face and a nice leg kick. Goldberg and Rogan are acting like MacDonald is GSP reborn. Right at the end of the round, both men land push kicks at each other and Condit slips. Rogan acts like MacDonald levelled him, but he didn't. Close again, 10-9 MacDonald if I had to guess what the judges would say.
Round 3: Wow, Greg Jackson went apeshit in Condit's corner before it started. Never seen Greg Jackson do that before, screaming about it being "a fucking war." Who knew Mr. Positive could be so intense? Condit gets top control and lands some monster blows to the dome of MacDonald. Condit is just teeing off from top position, but MacDonald gets up with about half the round left. Condit proceeds to pummel him and get him back down and land some more ground and pound. MacDonald looks like he's done. If this was Pride, Condit would win a decision based on this round alone. Most dominant round of the fight thus far for either man. Jesus, Condit is just all over him and MacDonald is gassed. Goldberg then starts talking about how great MacDonald has done in this fight. What the fuck is he talking about? If he wins, its solely based on the inadequacy of MMA judging. With ten seconds left, the ref stops it and gives Condit a TKO win. MacDonald is gassed and his right eye looks like it is has been obliterated. Rogan continues to put over how good MacDonald is, and not that Condit just threw a massive beating on MacDonald in that round.
A brief package about welterweight contenders follows, highlighted by Condit levelling Dan Hardy and the debut of Jake Shields in the UFC. Highlights of his "win" over Martin Kampmann are shown. This was a total bullshit win for Shields, as I had Kampmann winning. Oh well, GSP is going to beat him anyways. Jon Fitch is another contender for the title and boring highlights of his boring decision victories remind me that Jon Fitch is the most boring man in the history of MMA. There's some other people like Chris Lytle and Rick Story that are hyped as contenders, but that ain't happening anytime soon. And that ends the disc.
Bonus Fights
Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon (sometime in 2010): I've never seen this one before. Miller and Lauzon trade some big shots from the standup, ground, and the clinch through the first few minutes. Miller lands some kind of funky inverted triangle/kimura submission in the first round to win. Pretty cool fight while it lasted.
Melvin Guillard vs Waylon Lowe: I believe I saw this fight back when it happened, but the highlights in the main feature showed the finish to this one. Waylon shoots for a takedown early and Melvin shows good takedown defense. While up against the fence, Guillard lands several monster knees to Lowe's mug. Lowe is using way too much energy going for a takedown that just isn't gonna come. They dance around and when Lowe shoots for another takedown gets a hard knee to the solar plexus and crumples. KO win for Guillard in Round 1.
Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit: This one won't be very long. I remember it taking place in England and the Brit fans being rabid for Hardy. He seemed so pumped to be in front of the home crowd and the energy while watching it live was incredible. The two engage in a pretty good kickboxing contest through the first few minutes and then it happens. About four and a half minutes through the round, both men throw a left hook. Hardy's hook just misses Condit's jaw, Condit's lands right on the button and puts Hardy out cold. Nasty knockout.
Dennis Siver vs Andre Winner: I think I've seen this one before, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. The first round is all standup, with the edge going to Siver. With about two minutes left, Siver floors Winner and puts him in a read naked choke to win it by submission.
George Sotiropoulos vs Joe Lauzon: Man, the bonus fights don't do any favors for the Lauzon family. Lauzon starts well in the first few minutes, landing some decent strikes standing. G Sots is not heavily layered in gear, so no shady advantage for him. They end up scrambling on the ground and Lauzon ends up on top, for a little while, before G Sots ends up on top. He ends up in the mount and almost gets an armbar before the round ends, but Lauzon ends up on top and lands some strikes right before the bell. Round 1 would be 10-9 Lauzon, but close. Lauzon is much more fatigued to start Round 2. He is getting tagged with a lot more punches now and eats some Muay Thai knees. Sotiropoulos ends up on top and almost lands an armbar. Lauzon is gassed and Sotiropoulos lands a nice kimura for a submission win.
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira: I think I saw this one. Oliveira came into this one as a highly regarded prospect and throws some head kicks to start. Miller gets a takedown, but Oliveira is very active from the bottom, trying several submissions. Miller somehow rolls him into a kneebar and gets a submission win. Pretty crazy fight for its whole two minute duration.
That does it for Disc 1. I'll try to do Disc 2 sometime this week.
The DVD begins with an unknown voice welcoming us to the DVD and telling the viewer about the rise and fall of fighters and the transcendent power and thrill of competition set to a montage of footage from throughout the year. After this, it leads into some of the overall highlights of the year, from new markets for shows to the top fighters of the year.
The next topic: Frankie Edgar's rise to the top of the lightweight title at the expense of longtime champ and 155 lb. legend BJ Penn. This sets up a highlight package for Penn-Edgar 1. Luckily they don't show this whole fight as it would only serve to infuriate me. Edgar won a unanimous decision victory based mainly on the fact that he looked busier, but the truth is that it was at best an even fight that I thought could have went either way. This is followed up with highlights from Penn-Edgar 2, a clear decision win for Edgar. I still don't get how BJ blew both of these fights so badly. Prior to these fights, he hadn't lost at lightweight in eight years and had looked more dominant than ever, but Frankie Edgar beats him twice?
The narrator then goes over Edgar's new foe: Gray Maynard. Brief clips of his split decision win over Nate Diaz and his boring decision win over Kenny Florian follow.
After about twelve minutes, we get our first fight of the DVD: Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk from September's UFC 119.
Round 1: Disclosure - I hate Sean Sherk and his baby T Rex arms and the fact he tested positive for roids a few years back. I've never seen Dunham fight before this DVD. Sherk holds an advantage through most of the first round with some takedowns and minor ground and pound from the guard position. With about a minute and a half left, Dunham throws a pretty swank choke on Sherk, who eventually reverses position into open guard, where he lands a nasty elbow that busts Dunham open badly above the eyebrow. First round is 10-9 Sherk in my book.
Round 2: As the round begins, Dunham's cut is still bleeding. Sherk spends a solid 30 seconds working on a takedown that Dunham turns into a guillotine. Sherk escapes, then spends another minute and a half shooting for a takedown that leads to nothing. Dunham looks for a guillotine the whole time. Rogan and Goldberg make the point that Sherk may win this round just because Dunham is bleeding a ton, like that's a sign of effectiveness. The last minute and a half or so consists of some kickboxing that Dunham clearly gets the better of, landing a few kicks and like three knees to Sherk's mug. 10-9 Dunham, as he landed most of the significant offense, stuffed Sherk's takedowns, and had a few submission attempts that nearly worked.
Round 3: This round would determine the winner for me. Dunham drops Sherk early with a head kick, but Sherk recovers and pushes Dunham against the cage for an eternity, looking for a takedown that only happens for a second before Dunham gets back to his feet. Basically two minutes of the round consisted of Sherk's takedowns getting stuffed. They stand and trade for a bit, where Dunham lands a lot more than Sherk, who responds by whiffing on uppercuts since he has the reach of a twelve year old and then pushing Dunham into the cage for a takedown. They trade some more and Dunham gets him against the cage with some nasty kicks and knees to the mug. Another 10-9 round for Dunham. That makes it 29-28 Dunham to me. Pretty good fight, I must say. The judges give it to Sherk by split decision. Wow, Dunham got robbed.
The DVD then goes into another lightweight fight, this one from UFC 110 between George "G-Sots" Sotiropoulos and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson.
Round 1: I saw this one live when it happened and remember it being pretty good. Sotiropoulos gets a bit of lee way with his trunks, wearing knee pads and ankle wraps underneath that in essence give him pants (which are illegal). I do not approve. G-Sots gets an early takedown and works to pass Joe Daddy's guard, but Stevenson stops his progress. That is literally all that happens for about sixty percent of this round. G-Sots eventually lands some punches from up top, but receives a vicious upkick to the grill for his trouble. Joe Daddy almost gets him in an arm triangle, but Sotiropoulous ends up in the mount and lands some ground and pound and nearly gets Stevenson in an armbar to end the round. 10-9 G-Sots.
Round 2: G-Sots gets some good shots in while they box and Rogan claims that Stevenson is in trouble. I like Rogan, but he acts like any flush blow puts a dude on queer street. Stevenson was just losing in the stand up, he was at no risk of being knocked out. They end up on the ground, where Sotiropoulos goes for a several submissions, none of which land. His ability to transition and attempt different submissions is very impressive. The round ends with Stevenson being caught in an anaconda choke. The grappling in this fight has been very impressive. Closer round, but still clearly 10-9 for G-Sots.
Round 3: Goldberg makes sure to tell the viewer that G-Sots loved Bruce Lee movies as a kid, like it is relevant to the action going on. Rogan jumps in and explains the grappling going on and why Sotiropoulos is so good at it. Goldberg says Stevenson "needs to unleash." Rogan goes back to doing the play by play and color commentary. My recap of this round hasn't been too detailed, but it has mostly been a lot of ground transitions and both men looking for submissions. Stevenson has landed a couple takedowns, but gets tied up and can't get the finish he would need to win. The round could have gone either way, but I'll give it to Stevenson and make it 10-9 for him, and 29-28 Sotiropoulos overall. The judges score it 30-27 for Sotriropoulos.
After G-Sots, a montage of clips for lightweight Jim Miller follow. He won all four of his fights in 2010 and also positioned himself as contender for the 155 lb. belt. Melvin Guillard is the next lightweight to receive a montage, as the narrator discusses the Young Assassin's newfound maturity both in and out of the cage. He won all three of his fights last year and is another potential contender. The last WEC Lightweight Champion, Anthony Pettis, is the last lightweight to earn a montage headlined by his "Showtime kick" on Ben Henderson.
This segues into a bit on the addition of the WEC into the UFC. A highlight reel of my boy Jose Aldo annihilating everything in sight follows, as well as highlights of several of the other exciting bantam and featherweights.
Georges St. Pierre is the star of the next segment. Going into 2010, GSP had won twenty straight rounds. He fought twice last year. His first fight was against Dan Hardy and it was a five round exposition of positional control by GSP. To be fair, he did try several submissions that would normally have ended another fighter's night, but Hardy is tough as hell. The thing that bothers me about GSP is that he sticks so heavily to his gameplan. He was all over Hardy and could have just pounded his head in, but he was so focused on submissions and not taking chances that the clearly overwhelmed Hardy was allowed to survive. His next fight was against Josh Koscheck, where he dominated again for another five rounds. He put on a boxing clinic and broke Kos' orbital in the first round. It really should have been stopped, but instead it was allowed to continue.
Matt Hughes was the 2010 inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame. They run down his resume, which includes his awesome submission win against Frank Trigg, so that's cool. This leads into Hughes-Penn 3 from UFC 123. This should be a short review.
Round 1: I saw this one live as well, and it was exciting while it lasted. Both men start to trade and BJ levels Hughes back into Iowa in about twenty seconds. That pretty much settled their rivalry. BJ is wicked pumped after the fight, in true BJ Penn fashion. When the doctors check out Matt, you can see him ask "What happened?" As a huge BJ fan, this almost made the two losses to Edgar worth it since it led to this massacre.
The focus on welterweights continues with Carlos Condit, the former WEC Welterweight Champ. This leads to UFC 115's Condit vs. Rory MacDonald.
Round 1: This is the first time I've ever seen this fight. These two dudes are just going at it in this round and seem to be pretty evenly matched in the stand-up. MacDonald probably gets a slight advantage because he blocked a couple of kicks and turned them into some takedowns. Neither man was really dominant and there wasn't a lot to say about it. I'll go 10-9 MacDonald, but it was really close.
Round 2: MacDonald and Condit continue to trade blows and both men land some takedowns on each other. On Condit's, MacDonald gets a nice reversal and ends up in the guard. Rogan is yammering about how MacDonald has dominated this fight and dictated where it takes place and is clearly winning, but I feel like it's still pretty even. MacDonald lands some nice strikes and Rogan goes nuts, but stays silent when Condit lands a knee square in MacDonald's face and a nice leg kick. Goldberg and Rogan are acting like MacDonald is GSP reborn. Right at the end of the round, both men land push kicks at each other and Condit slips. Rogan acts like MacDonald levelled him, but he didn't. Close again, 10-9 MacDonald if I had to guess what the judges would say.
Round 3: Wow, Greg Jackson went apeshit in Condit's corner before it started. Never seen Greg Jackson do that before, screaming about it being "a fucking war." Who knew Mr. Positive could be so intense? Condit gets top control and lands some monster blows to the dome of MacDonald. Condit is just teeing off from top position, but MacDonald gets up with about half the round left. Condit proceeds to pummel him and get him back down and land some more ground and pound. MacDonald looks like he's done. If this was Pride, Condit would win a decision based on this round alone. Most dominant round of the fight thus far for either man. Jesus, Condit is just all over him and MacDonald is gassed. Goldberg then starts talking about how great MacDonald has done in this fight. What the fuck is he talking about? If he wins, its solely based on the inadequacy of MMA judging. With ten seconds left, the ref stops it and gives Condit a TKO win. MacDonald is gassed and his right eye looks like it is has been obliterated. Rogan continues to put over how good MacDonald is, and not that Condit just threw a massive beating on MacDonald in that round.
A brief package about welterweight contenders follows, highlighted by Condit levelling Dan Hardy and the debut of Jake Shields in the UFC. Highlights of his "win" over Martin Kampmann are shown. This was a total bullshit win for Shields, as I had Kampmann winning. Oh well, GSP is going to beat him anyways. Jon Fitch is another contender for the title and boring highlights of his boring decision victories remind me that Jon Fitch is the most boring man in the history of MMA. There's some other people like Chris Lytle and Rick Story that are hyped as contenders, but that ain't happening anytime soon. And that ends the disc.
Bonus Fights
Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon (sometime in 2010): I've never seen this one before. Miller and Lauzon trade some big shots from the standup, ground, and the clinch through the first few minutes. Miller lands some kind of funky inverted triangle/kimura submission in the first round to win. Pretty cool fight while it lasted.
Melvin Guillard vs Waylon Lowe: I believe I saw this fight back when it happened, but the highlights in the main feature showed the finish to this one. Waylon shoots for a takedown early and Melvin shows good takedown defense. While up against the fence, Guillard lands several monster knees to Lowe's mug. Lowe is using way too much energy going for a takedown that just isn't gonna come. They dance around and when Lowe shoots for another takedown gets a hard knee to the solar plexus and crumples. KO win for Guillard in Round 1.
Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit: This one won't be very long. I remember it taking place in England and the Brit fans being rabid for Hardy. He seemed so pumped to be in front of the home crowd and the energy while watching it live was incredible. The two engage in a pretty good kickboxing contest through the first few minutes and then it happens. About four and a half minutes through the round, both men throw a left hook. Hardy's hook just misses Condit's jaw, Condit's lands right on the button and puts Hardy out cold. Nasty knockout.
Dennis Siver vs Andre Winner: I think I've seen this one before, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. The first round is all standup, with the edge going to Siver. With about two minutes left, Siver floors Winner and puts him in a read naked choke to win it by submission.
George Sotiropoulos vs Joe Lauzon: Man, the bonus fights don't do any favors for the Lauzon family. Lauzon starts well in the first few minutes, landing some decent strikes standing. G Sots is not heavily layered in gear, so no shady advantage for him. They end up scrambling on the ground and Lauzon ends up on top, for a little while, before G Sots ends up on top. He ends up in the mount and almost gets an armbar before the round ends, but Lauzon ends up on top and lands some strikes right before the bell. Round 1 would be 10-9 Lauzon, but close. Lauzon is much more fatigued to start Round 2. He is getting tagged with a lot more punches now and eats some Muay Thai knees. Sotiropoulos ends up on top and almost lands an armbar. Lauzon is gassed and Sotiropoulos lands a nice kimura for a submission win.
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira: I think I saw this one. Oliveira came into this one as a highly regarded prospect and throws some head kicks to start. Miller gets a takedown, but Oliveira is very active from the bottom, trying several submissions. Miller somehow rolls him into a kneebar and gets a submission win. Pretty crazy fight for its whole two minute duration.
That does it for Disc 1. I'll try to do Disc 2 sometime this week.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Pride is dead, long live Pride!
In the early to mid-2000s, the UFC was not the only popular mixed martial arts organization. It may not have even been the best. Located in Japan, the Pride Fighting Championships played host to some of the most legendary fighters and fights in MMA history. Until its buyout by Zuffa in 2006, the argument could be made that Pride was at worst an equal to the UFC, and at best far superior.
For years, fans of MMA had wondered what would happen when Pride stars showed up in the UFC and fight under the American unified rules. Could Wanderlei Silva beat Chuck Liddell? How would Mirko Cro Cop fare against someone like Randy Couture? Would Shogun Rua continue to be the most dominant light heavyweight in the world?
As it turned out, the Pride stars have been made to look fairly ordinary since the organization folded. The elite names in the company have not fared well. It has all come to a head in 2011, where the following Pride fighters have lost and lost decisively in the past three months: longtime top heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, former top ranked light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, 2006 Pride Grand Prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, top ten light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and former Pride Lightweight Champ Takanori Gomi. It is safe to say that the Pride flame has all but been extinguished.
Although the list there is large, there are still a few other Pride vets to add to the list of legends who are essentially done. Wanderlei Silva, despite a decision win in 2010 against Michael Bisping, is pretty much done. Since joining the UFC, he has gone 2-3 and hasn’t fought since the aforementioned Bisping fight back in February 2010. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has gone 3-2 since joining the UFC, but the two losses were both devastating knock out losses and he looks like a shell of his former self. Prior to the Frank Mir KO in 2007, Nogueira hadn’t ever been finished in any of his 35 prior fights dating back to 1999. He also hasn’t fought since February 2010, when Cain Velasquez knocked him out in the first round. Even someone with some success like Shogun Rua, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ, have had middling results post-Pride.
Of all the former Pride fighters to continue fighting, only three longtime veterans of that organization have had major success the past five years. The first is Dan Henderson. Hendo came into the UFC holding the Pride Middleweight and Welterweight titles simaltaneously. He had a record in Pride of 12-6 and has gone 5-3 since then. His losses were all in title fights, and in the loss to Anderson Silva he became the first person to win a round against the Spider. That Silva loss in 2008 is also the only time he has been finished since 2005 and he currently holds the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title.
The second fighter is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jackson has gone 7-2 since leaving Pride in 2006 and in 2007 was the first man to knock out longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Chuck Liddell since he did it in Pride in 2003. Rampage was successful in Pride, but has become a bigger star in the UFC and even had a starring role in the A Team remake last year. He is still ranked in the top five at his weight class and could even be challenging for the UFC title again by the end of the year.
The last man is Alistair Overeem, the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ. He was only 6-7 in Pride, but has gone 10-1 since 2006. On top of his MMA success, Overeem recently won the K-1 Kickboxing Grand Prix, cementing him as one of the best strikers in combat sports He has the most potential to have the greatest amount of post-Pride success, as heavyweight is one of the weaker weight classes and with his skill level, there are really only a few heavyweights in the world that could really give him problems.
This post is intended to be the beginning of an irregular series of posts over the unforseeable future chronicling Pride. Expect to see pieces about topics such as why Pride fighters have done so poorly over the past several years, great fights and fighters, and maybe even some fantasy matchmaking. Stay tuned for more.
For years, fans of MMA had wondered what would happen when Pride stars showed up in the UFC and fight under the American unified rules. Could Wanderlei Silva beat Chuck Liddell? How would Mirko Cro Cop fare against someone like Randy Couture? Would Shogun Rua continue to be the most dominant light heavyweight in the world?
As it turned out, the Pride stars have been made to look fairly ordinary since the organization folded. The elite names in the company have not fared well. It has all come to a head in 2011, where the following Pride fighters have lost and lost decisively in the past three months: longtime top heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, former top ranked light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, 2006 Pride Grand Prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, top ten light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and former Pride Lightweight Champ Takanori Gomi. It is safe to say that the Pride flame has all but been extinguished.
Although the list there is large, there are still a few other Pride vets to add to the list of legends who are essentially done. Wanderlei Silva, despite a decision win in 2010 against Michael Bisping, is pretty much done. Since joining the UFC, he has gone 2-3 and hasn’t fought since the aforementioned Bisping fight back in February 2010. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has gone 3-2 since joining the UFC, but the two losses were both devastating knock out losses and he looks like a shell of his former self. Prior to the Frank Mir KO in 2007, Nogueira hadn’t ever been finished in any of his 35 prior fights dating back to 1999. He also hasn’t fought since February 2010, when Cain Velasquez knocked him out in the first round. Even someone with some success like Shogun Rua, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ, have had middling results post-Pride.
Of all the former Pride fighters to continue fighting, only three longtime veterans of that organization have had major success the past five years. The first is Dan Henderson. Hendo came into the UFC holding the Pride Middleweight and Welterweight titles simaltaneously. He had a record in Pride of 12-6 and has gone 5-3 since then. His losses were all in title fights, and in the loss to Anderson Silva he became the first person to win a round against the Spider. That Silva loss in 2008 is also the only time he has been finished since 2005 and he currently holds the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title.
The second fighter is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jackson has gone 7-2 since leaving Pride in 2006 and in 2007 was the first man to knock out longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Chuck Liddell since he did it in Pride in 2003. Rampage was successful in Pride, but has become a bigger star in the UFC and even had a starring role in the A Team remake last year. He is still ranked in the top five at his weight class and could even be challenging for the UFC title again by the end of the year.
The last man is Alistair Overeem, the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ. He was only 6-7 in Pride, but has gone 10-1 since 2006. On top of his MMA success, Overeem recently won the K-1 Kickboxing Grand Prix, cementing him as one of the best strikers in combat sports He has the most potential to have the greatest amount of post-Pride success, as heavyweight is one of the weaker weight classes and with his skill level, there are really only a few heavyweights in the world that could really give him problems.
This post is intended to be the beginning of an irregular series of posts over the unforseeable future chronicling Pride. Expect to see pieces about topics such as why Pride fighters have done so poorly over the past several years, great fights and fighters, and maybe even some fantasy matchmaking. Stay tuned for more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)